Secrets of the Undernet
by kayono
Summary: After agreeing to a trade with a mysterious Navi, Roll finds herself stuck in the Undernet. Can she uncover it's secrets before she's trapped forever? LanMayl, MegaRoll
1. Where's Roll?

Kay: WWWHHHHHHHHEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Shila: What are you whee-ing about?  
  
Kay: WE GOT A GUEST!!!!!!!!!  
  
Shila: please don't let it be some good guy... Sigma, sure, but NOT some good guy!  
  
Kay: Don't worry! They're a good girl! Not a guy!  
  
Shila: how did I end up getting stuck here?  
  
Kay: Yeah! But she won't be comming till later.   
  
Shila: Hmmm... not Tialsia... she's not a guest, she's a pest... lives here, too...  
  
Kay: you know her!  
  
Shila: As long as it's not Bransaln, I'm fine.  
  
Kay: ...oops.  
  
Shila: WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
She sat staring at her computer for what must have been hours. Although it was only minutes. Her red hair had been recently pulled back and held in position by large amounts of hair spray, and she had also recently changed out of her night gown into a dark blue vest, aqua-colored top, short pink skirt, dark blue knee-highs, and red shoes. She was sitting infront of the computer in her room, not even noticing the time. For one VERY good reason.  
  
She worried greatly about her friend, and waited, one eye on the computer screen, the other on her PET.   
  
"Mayl? You there? Aren't you comming to school today?"  
  
She turned her head slightly, so that she could see the figure standing in the door way. His messy brown hair was held back by nothing more than a light blue bandana, with his Navi symbol on it. He wore an orange vest over his white, long-sleaved top, and his dark grey shorts. His shoes were orange, with black and white designs here and there. He had a worries expression on his face, since he was usually the one being woken up by either his mom, his Navi, Megaman, or Mayl. Not the other way around. Although she was awake.. just not moving.   
  
She sighed. "Yeah... but... I'm worried about Roll. She asked me to let her go on the net last night, and I did. She said that she'd be back by the time I woke up... but she wasn't." An idea suddenly came to her. "Lan! How about you jack in Megaman, and he can search for her while we're at school!"  
  
The young man, Lan, thought about it for a moment. "Well... couldn't hurt. And we DO want her back by next week! It's the school's net-battle tournament! The registering round is tomorrow, so... sure!" He walked over to the computer, as Mayl got out of his way. "Jack-in, Megaman! Transmission!"  
  
A blue-clad boy appeared on the screen. "Huh? Lan? Aren't you supposed to be going to school? What am I doing here?"  
  
Lan blinked. "Weren't you listening to what Mayl just said?"  
  
"No. I was going through all the battle chips we won last night!"  
  
Lan sighed. "Roll's missing. Think you can find her before we get back from school?"  
  
Megaman thought this over for a moment. "Sure... I'll see what I can do. See you later Lan!"   
  
With that, Megaman was off and away from Mayl's home page, and onto the cyber net.  
  
Mayl sighed, saddened that she couldn't find Roll. "Do you think that Megaman will be able to find her?"  
  
Lan nodded. "Yeah. If he doesn't, then she wouldn't be in the net any more. She would have to be in the undernet, or somewhere else. Don't worry... I'm sure he'll be able to find her."  
  
Mayl nodded. "Yeah... thanks Lan. Now, why don't we get going to school before we're late?"  
  
Lan looked over at the clock. "Kinda late for that, Mayl- we only have 3 minutes to get to class before the bell rings, and it takes 10 minutes to walk or skate there."  
  
Mayl smiled. "Then... let's not rush."  
  
Lan nodded. "Sounds good... I rush enough every morning..."  
  
The two walked out of the room side by side, not really caring if they were late for school, leaving their PETs behind. As it turns out, that would be a BIG mistake.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*[The net... dumdumdum duh!!!!!]*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Megaman walked around the net, slowly making his way to ACDC square in ACDC 3. He checked every single alleyway, around all the corners, he even busted through some Fishy and Canodumb virsues a few times to see if he could find Roll.   
  
"Not here, not there... where could she be? Scilab square is the only other place still in the net, and I know that Roll doesn't have a CScilab Pass..." He muttered to himself as he stepped into the warp to ACDC square.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*[*gasp!* The Undernet!! AAAHHH!!!]*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Roll was NOT happy. She had been reading the message board and noticed a post from a Navi that wanted to trade. Roll wanted to go to Scilab square, and had recently gotten a CACDC Pass, but it was useless since she couldn't get to Scilab to use it.   
  
The Navi, known only as Quersoæn, had posted that she needed a CACDC Pass, since she always liked going to Scilab Square to check the boards, but would have to wait until her Net op came home to jack her out to out from Scilab. So, Roll had gladly said that she would trade Quersoæn the Pass, for any slightly rare battle chip. So, Quersoæn had given Roll a one-use CScilab Pass, and told Roll to meet her at Scilab Square, which Roll did- and waited there for most of the night.  
  
Roll was about to head home, when a warp had opened up out of no where, and sucked her into it- spitting her out in a place that she had never seen before. When Roll looked back, she noticed that the warp was not only pure white, but also vertical. This greatly confussed Roll, but when it closed, she snapped out of her day dream just in time to realize that not only was she in a new, and not very nice looking part of the net, but the only way she knew to get back had just closed on her.  
  
In other words, Roll was stranded.  
  
Cursing, Roll had walked around the net, wondering where she was going. She saw some Navis and Viruses that didn't look very friendly, and they whispered behind hands, and her back. But they didn't bother her, so Roll didn't bother them. She wanted to try to find a way out of this place, but refused to talk to those Navis which showed some interest in talking to her- they seemed... not very nice. Just like all the dark streets that she had walked through.   
  
She had now been walking around the streets for a good two hours, and her feet were hurting. Badly. She desperately wanted to sit down somewhere, anywhere, and when she noticed that the statue she was now walking past was the same one that she had already been past at least 15 times before, she lost it, screamign randomly into the night (or she assumed it was the night):  
  
"I HAVE BEEN WALKING AROUND THESE DAMN STREETS FOR THE LONGEST TIME, MY FEET HURT, I WAS STOOD UP, I'M LOST, AND I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO REST FOR A VERY LONG TIME!!!!! IS THERE NO WHERE I CAN REST?!?!?!?!"  
  
After her little out-burst, quite a few Navis were now looking at her with a strange look on their faces. One, who was dressed in white and black, and had think, black hair, walked over to her. "Hey... what are you doign here? You don't seem like the type of Navi to be in the Undernet."  
  
Roll paled, but not noticably. She had heard that the Undernet was a horrible place, where no one was nice, and everyone only wanted to delete the next person. But, so far, people had only whispered.  
  
Roll looked up at the Navi, which had to be at least half a foot taller than her. "Erm... well... I was waiting for some one named Quersoæn at Scilab, and then this warp opened up, and I was thrown here. Do you know how to get back?"  
  
The black-haired Navi shook her head. "Nah... if I did, I would have been long gone. I got stuck here same as you, only my Net op sent me here. I went through the portal, and bam- got stuck here without a way out. She jacked out, but not me, and now I'm stuck here. Don't worry. As long as your Net op -if you have one, I've heard rumours from Navis that can go back and forth that there's some solo Navis wandering around- doesn't jack out, you'll be fine. So... you got a name?"  
  
Roll nodded. "Um... yeah... Roll. What's your name?"  
  
The other Navi laughed. "No need to be so nice. Meh name is Shonæsa. Used to be something else- but here, you go by your name that your net op, or whoever, gave you, you'll get jumped by anyone. Not always a nice place, but if ya know the right people, every thing's fine. So... do you really want to be known as... 'Roll'?"  
  
Roll couldn't help but shake her head. "If it's really as bad as you say... no... do you have a name for me Shonæsa?"  
  
Shonæsa laughed. "Naw... you have to come up with yourself. And call me Sho, so much easier to remember. And say, now that I think of it. So... you got a name for yourself?"  
  
Roll thought for a moment. "Um..." for some reason, the name 'Eria' appealed to her. "Eria, I guess..."  
  
Sho grinned. "Well then Eria... why don't I show you around? The best place from what I've heard to get back to the Cyber Net is where ever you got in her. So... remember where it is?"  
  
Eria shook her head. "No... eh, do you think that until I get out, there might be a way to change these colors? As much as I WOULD like to keep all this pink..."  
  
Sho nodded. "Alright, Eria. So you wana change your colors? It would let you move around her less noticeable... I have the guy just for you! He's not too smart, but awesome at changing things thought to be impossible to change. Me, for instance. I WAS a bright yellow and red, but now I'm a black and white- night and day, good and evil... awesome colors."  
  
Eria pondered this, before nodding. "Alright... as much as I would like to rest, I think that it would be good if I got this color change done first. Would I still be able to keep my Navi symbol?"  
  
Sho looked Eria over, noticing only two symbols that could be it. "Which one is it? The one on your ear covers, or the one on those two round things you got on top of your head?"  
  
"The one on my ear covers. Why?"  
  
Sho grinned, grabbed Eria by the hand, and led her away. "You get new colors, possible new style. He should be able to incorporate that symbol into your new look. You up for it?"  
  
"And I'll be able to go back to my pink when I get back to the Cyber Net?"  
  
"Sure! I can get a program for him to put in with your colors that would give you you're pink in the Cyber Net, and you're darker colors here. That okay?"  
  
"How would you get the program?"  
  
"As I said, if you've got friends here, you could get almost anything. And usually perfectly legally, too."  
  
"Usually?"  
  
"Sometimes... you find things layin round the ground here, and you pick em up. Some call it stealing, but you can't take the chance that they might be programs, and good ones too. One of meh friends found a one-of-a-kind program layin round, like other ones- other Navi's didn't go near it, cause it was a weird green color. So, he picked it up anyways, and boom! He found himself with this program that lets him snoop out what and where different kinds o programs and chips are. I'll have to get you to meet him when you get you're new colors."  
  
"Thank you, Sho."  
  
"Thanks? For what? We don't usually do the whole 'thank you' thing here."  
  
"Thanks... for everything."  
  
"Eh, no problem. That's what friends are for. Now lets go get some colors!"  
  
Sho picked up her pace, and they were soon speeding through alleys, streets, and everything else.  
  
"I hope that this guy is as good as you say he is! Cause I think that if we don't get there soon, I'm gonna faint!"   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*[NO! NOT SCHOOL!!!!!]*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
All day Mayl couldn't concentrate. She was worried about Roll way to much. Ms. Mari gave them a pop-quiz on different kinds of viruses that have an HP under 100, which was quite easy, and everyone should have got perfect on it, but Mayl could only get three- Mettaur, Canodumb, and Fishy. All the other names evaded her.   
  
Ms. Mari was quite surprised when she marked the quizs- Mayl, usually a alomst- perfect student, getting just that on more than half of her tests, had only gotten three out of the many, many, many different viruses. And they only needed to name ten.   
  
So, when everyone came back from lunch (during which Lan had tried to comfort Mayl, as she hadn't wanted to tell any one else about her problem, and everyone thought that she was sick and Lan was crazy), Ms. Mari inevitably asked what was wrong.  
  
However, when Mayl didn't respond, Lan opened his mouth to explain, but Ms. Mari cut him off, saying that she had asked Mayl, and if Mayl didn't want to say anything, then that was fine, and nothing needed to be said.   
  
"Mayl..." Lan whispered to her, as the class was told to get together with their partners and work on the project about Navis and different types that they had been working on for the last week. Mayl and Lan were partners, of course.   
  
"Yeah Lan?"  
  
"Are you feeling okay? Do you want me to work on this by myself?"  
  
Mayl shook her head. "No... I'm being selfish. Just because Roll's missing, I have no idea where she is, Megaman is looking for her, and possibly getting really hurt, and I might never see her again, and-" Mayl couldn't help but break down, and start crying. The whole class was astounded by her sudden out burst.  
  
"LAN!" Dex stomped over to where Lan and Mayl were, not liking the fact that whatever Lan had said made Mayl cry. "What did you do?"  
  
Lan was in shock, until Mayl hugged him- tightly. Dex was a bit taken aback.   
  
Lan, forgeting all about Dex, turned to Mayl, and hugged her back, telling her things like, "it's okay...", "Mega will find her..." and "there's nothing to worry about... we're all here, so there's nothing to worry about!" and, the last one, mainly trying to get her to stop soaking his vest, "Please stop crying... everything will be okay when we get back home today, so please, Mayl... you don't look very pretty when you're crying..."  
  
Lan stopped himself, as everyone in the class, including Mayl, looked at him increduously. He had NOT meant for that last comment to be heard.   
  
However, Mayl grinned, and nodded, releasing Lan from her death grip. "You- you're right... no use worrying... Megaman will find Roll, and by the time we get back, they'll both be in their PETs... right?"  
  
Lan nodded, a smile crossing his face now that Mayl was smiling again. "Right... now, lets get back to work..."  
  
Mayl nodded, and got out the information that they had found so far. Soon, the rest of the class was working again. Except for one, large person.  
  
'No...' Dex thought. 'They... no... not... Mayl...' he was in shock from the way the Mayl reacted, and the fact that she was willing to go to Lan with such a serrious problem and not himself made Dex rethink his postion in Mayl's life. He had always had a crush on her, and had tried to protect her from everything that could hurt her. But now that he hadn't been able to protect her, and she had turned to Lan instead to solve her problems...  
  
Dex slouched back to his desk, where Tori was waiting to continue their project. Seeing Dex's blank but sad stare, Tori knew that, once again, he would be the only one working on this project.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*[ACDC Square]*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Megaman wandered around. He knew that he only had a few hours left before Lan and Mayl got home, and neither would be happy if they found not only one, but two empty PETs. He had asked every Navi that he could find if they knew where Roll was, as she frequented ACDC square, and many Navis knew her. But everyone he asked said that they hadn't seen her since last night, when she checked the boards.   
  
"Great... now where could Roll have gone? I mean, there's no huge flashing signs around that point to possible Navis who knew where Roll could be, right?"  
  
Suddenly, a Navi dressed in thick, purple and green armour, almost like a knight's, walked away from the message boards. The bright, absurd colors they were dressed in worked almost like a huge sign, and the bright, turquoise feathers sticking out of her helmet didn't help to tone down the image.  
  
Megaman sweat-dropped. "Well... that's close enough to a huge, flashing sign for me!" He walked over quickly, because the knight Navi was heading over to the warp point in the middle of ACDC square. "Um, excuse me..." it was only when she turned around that Megaman noticed that she was actually a bit smaller than himself, that she was VERY angry, and that she was a... she.  
  
"I'm very sorry to bug you, but..."  
  
"But nothing. I asked for a CACDC Pass, and what do I get? An un-reliable Navi, who makes me wait all night at the warp point in Scilab to Scilab square... what do you want?"  
  
Mega gulped. "Well... I'm looking for a friend..."  
  
"Good, I'm looking for someone too, we can look together. What does your friend look like? I know most Navis, including the ones in the Undernet, go ahead and tell me any description... just not names, I can't remember those."  
  
Mega sighed. At least now he had a comrade, and they could look together.   
  
But he couldn't help one thought that slid into his mind.  
  
'What have I gotten myself into?'  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kay: *dodges frying pan* well *huff* I *pant* tried to write *gasp* SHILA, STOP IT!  
  
Shila: *charges again* WHY IS SHE COMMING HERE?!  
  
Kay: I THOUGHT THAT YOU TWO WERE FRIENDS!!!!  
  
Shila: Really? I guess I can't hit you then.. *sighs* I HATE it when you have a good reason for screwing up big time. *looks over at story* and I CAN'T believe that you're not only starting another story, that will definately become a story more than 5 chapters, that you actually wrote things like Lan thinking. I thought that THAT was impossible!  
  
Kay: well, so is Tialsia showing up in a story based on my beliefs, but she will anyways!  
  
*knocking on door* Hello? Is anyone there?  
  
Shila: *screams and runs into the large closet, and mouths through gap:* I'm not here!   
  
Kay: *shakes head* come on in, Bransaln!  
  
Bransaln: *walks in with large assortment of weapons, food, and clothing* aww... I thought that Shila would be here. These are all presents that I got her...  
  
Kay: *eyes large machine gun* um... you wouldn't happen to know if those things are real, would you?  
  
Bransaln: *laughs* OF COURSE THEY ARE!!! Really, how could I get my friend toys that didn't work properly?  
  
Kay: *muttering* interesting definition of 'toys'...  
  
Shila: *jumps out of closet* Bransaln! SSSOOOO happy to see you!!!!  
  
Bransaln: Happy Birthday!  
  
Kay: But it's not-  
  
Shila: shh! Bransaln, do you want to try those out?  
  
Bransaln: sure, but whe-  
  
Shila: Kay here will be happy to be the target, won't you?  
  
Kay: well, I- mmffff!!!!! *tried to pull duct tape off mouth, but it's kinda hard when the duct tape is also wrapped around her hands and feet*  
  
Shila: see? she agrees! let's try them out!  
  
Bransaln: Okay! *starts setting up Machine guns, lasers, bazookas, and every other weapon you could think of*  
  
Kay: mmmumm mmmnnff mmmnff nnnffff!!!!!!!! *thining* LET ME OUTTA HERE!  
  
[Song of the Chappie: 'Tourniquet by Evanesence' Buy the CD Evanesence: Fallen today!] 


	2. Changes and Clues

Wow... I actually got reviews... I FEEL SPECIAL!  
  
Shila: How did you get out of that? I leave the room for two days...  
  
Kay: two days? guess I was asleep for most of it... what'd you DO for two days?  
  
Shila: *sweatdrops* n-nothing that you would be interested in...  
  
Kay: for some reason I keep thinking that you were doing something completely illegal...  
  
Shila: how'd you-  
  
Kay: But I'm SURE that you wouldn't do that, right?  
  
Shila: yeah... hehe...  
  
Kay: well, on with the story!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
*NOTE: hehe... forgot to put this in last time...  
  
" "- talking  
  
' '- the swoosh thing you do with your fingers, or thoughts  
  
~ ~-letters, emails, notes  
  
* *-actions  
  
( )-added thoughts that could be taken out from the story, and it would still make sense  
  
[ ]- Authors notes in the middle of the story, just in case I need to, although I hate doing this  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Eria looked around the room she was in. Sho stood slightly behind her, in front of the door, making sure that she didn't back out. There was another figure in the room, but because of the minimal lighting, she couldn't see his face. That alone made her suspicious of the whole color-change procedure, but she had given the strange Navi what he had asked for- 3 mini bomber battle chips- and he had everything set up. Now, Eria just had to step into the pod, and "sleep" while the colors, and possibly the style got changed.  
  
"So... how long do you think it'll take?" Eria asked, uncertainly.  
  
"For me it only took half a day... pretty quickly considering how much needed changing. Probably take the same amount of time for you... but we'll see. I'll keep everyone from entering this place, while Fojou over there looks after you. K?"  
  
"Alright..." Eria still wasn't sure about this whole thing. It could be illegal, although Sho had assured her many times that the only illegal thing that they were doing was taking a lot more power than what was usually needed- and set aside, for where they were.   
  
"Don't worry... although who ever is in charge of all the electricity will probably notice something, it's been quite a while since anything major has spiked up... they've probably switched the guys in charge of it almost every month, so we shouldn't raise too much suspicion..."  
  
"But why are you worried about raising suspicion?"  
  
"Eh? Oh, er... that's... nothing, just... most Navi's don't like getting Navis from outside who look suspicious, or even worse those that they KNOW shouldn't be here, 'cause we're not all 'law-abiding' citizens... yeah, that's it..." Sho had even accompanied the words law-abiding with the two swooshes that some people do with their pointer and middle fingers to show quotes.  
  
But since that conversation, Eria wondered what the Navis here did that wasn't lawful. Or why Sho and Fojou didn't want anyone finding out about this... place.   
  
Eria looked at her arms, the parts that shone in the pale light bright pink, and realized that she probably wouldn't be recognized by any of her friends if they found their way down here. She wondered for a moment if she would be able to recognize them, either.   
  
"Eria? Time to go." An old, creaky voice filled the quiet room, reverberating off the walls. "Sho? Get to your place. We'll be starting soon."  
  
Eria heared the door open with a slight hiss, letting a bit more light in from the hall, before the door closed again with another hiss. She walked jerkily over to the pod, wondering for one last time if she would remember what she looked like when she woke up, and all the side-effects that this process could have.   
  
"Fojou... what will happen? Will I remember everything, or...?" Eria asked, as she sat down in the pod, and then moved into more of a sleeping position.  
  
"Think of Sho, and tell me what YOU think will happen." Fojou responded, as he shut the glass dome that was the entrance to the pod. "But now, it's time to go to sleep. Are you ready?"  
  
Eria, having finally gotten into a comfortable position, simply raised her hand, giving him the thumbs-up. Fojou pressed a couple of buttons on the control panel, and a strange gas began to fill the pod, red, pink, and black tinged.   
  
She sighed, thinking of all the places that she could explore now, and how she would take Megaman around the undernet, when she found a way back of course, not if, and tell Mayl and all the other Navis all about this place...  
  
Her eyes closed slowly, but when they did, a smile gently crossed his face. Her programing was obviously NOT putting up much of a fight, as the colors, and her body suit were already switching into the darker forms. He was glad that he would get to see one more beautiful transformation from sweet and inocent Navi into such a darker one, and decided that even though the Grendas would come for him soon, he couldn't have lived a better 'life'.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Megaman sighed, as he was led around the net by the always bossy, extremly chatty Querso'n.   
  
'Does she EVER quit talking?' He thought misserably. Querso'n had been talking about how RUDE Navis were getting lately, and how she had important things to do.  
  
"Why can't Navis today understand how IMPORTANT I AM?! I have MANY things to do, and sitting around ALL NIGHT is NOT ONE OF THEM!" She made sure to put extra emphasis on certain words so that Megaman would get the point. They were currently walking around ACDC1- actually, just outside the link to Lan's home page. Thinking about Lan, made his think of what time Lan would get home from school- and realized it was any minute.   
  
He started to fidget, wanting to make a break for Mayl's home page, which wasn't that far away, and get back to his PET, but remembered that both Lan and Mayl were counting on him to find Roll. He wanted to find her as well, but something just didn't feel right, and he wanted to get out of the net ASAP. Obviously, the fact that he wasn't paying attention caught Querso'n's attention, and she rounded on him, only to see him looking at a warp not too far away, almost longingly.   
  
"HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO A SINGLE WORD I SAID?!"  
  
He winced, and turned around quickly to find her bright colored Navi inches away from his face, giving him a death glare that would rival Ms. McGrath's.   
  
"Umm... could you please get out of my face?"  
  
She growled, but reluctantly stepped back. "What were you thinking of?" She asked him, trying to sound a bit nicer, as a few other Navis were looking on, trying to see what had happened.   
  
He blinked, but sighed, and said reluctantly, "well... that's my... Net-op's home page, so mine, too, and I really need to take a bit of a break..." that was a lie, he just wanted to get away from Querso'n, and her insiscent rambling.   
  
"Liar. You just want to get away from me. How about we both head back one last time to ACDC, then Scilab square? My Net-op will be able to jack me out, how about you? I want to show you the respose to my post... maybe that would help. Some on."  
  
Not waiting for a single answer, she grabbed his hand, and dragged him back to ACDC square. "See? this is the message I got..." she pointed to a respose to the post she had already showed him on another board. "Come on... read it!" She pushed Mega's head right to wards the post, almost making him fall over.   
  
"Alright, alright..." he muttered, while backing up a bit so that he could see the message.  
  
~Re: CACDC Pass  
  
Hello! I'll be glad to trade with you! I have a Pass, although I don't know how I'm going to use it if I don't have a Pass to SciLab in the first place. Please respond asap. It would be nice to meet you face to face, so maybe we could trade that way? Whatever you have to say, can't wait to hear it.  
  
Sincerly, Roll.EXE~  
  
Mega gasped. There was nothing else he could do. He quickly copied the post, and dragged Querso'n back with him throght ACDC Square, 3, 2, and 1 until he got to Mayl's home page. "We wait here." He told her quickly, trying to catch his breath.  
  
"Why? What was so important about the note?" Querso'n, having slightly greater endurance, was not so out of breath.  
  
"That Navi... Roll..."  
  
"Hmm? Mega? What about Roll? And who is that with you?"  
  
"La... Lan?!"   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lan and Mayl walked slowly home from school.   
  
Lan wanted to come up with some simple, easy to say, but kind words that would help Mayl calm down. But, being Lan, no such thoughts came to mind. No such words, sentences, or images came to mind either. However, something so trivial as not having anything in his head did not stop him from trying to think of something... although we're all pretty sure that the only thing that he thought would calm her would be to see Roll.   
  
Mayl, however was not all that comforted by Lan's furowed brow, and the way that he wasn't saying anything. To her, Lan complaining about the amount of homework, how little good opponents he could find, or just about the usual junk that they usually talked about was much better than this silence. She felt like that if she said anything, it would break the silence. Although that was what she wanted, she also wanted to find out what Lan was thinking, and usually when he was like that, if you interupted him, he would forget what he had just been thinking. It had happened to not only Ms. Asaji many times, but everyone else who wanted to talk to Lan when he was actually trying to think. She decided that talking, right now, was not the right choice.   
  
So, they both headed towards Mayl's house in silence, Lan trying desperately to come up with something that would calm her, and Mayl trying desperately to think of something to get Lan to talk.  
  
"We're here." Mayl said quietly, and Lan knew that she not only ment her house, but that she was also trying to get him to talk. He sighed.  
  
"Sorry. I zoned out, didn't I?"  
  
Mayl giggled at the expression on his face. "Yeah, but don't worry. Anyways, let's go see if Megaman had any luck in finsding Roll."   
  
Lan grinned then. "Sure!"  
  
They both ran into Mayl's house, not bothering to take off their shoes. Mayl was the first one up the stairs, and the first one into the bathroom. She was also the first one to notice that although there were no Navis in the PETs, there were two Navi's on her computer screen- A bright, neon, purple, green and turquoise Navi, and our favorite blue bomber.  
  
Lan was right next to her in moments, and stared at the two Navis for a moment, without them noticing that the two humans were watching.   
  
"Why? What was so important about the note?" Asked the neon coloured one.   
  
"That Navi... Roll..." Mega muttered back.  
  
The fact that Megaman and the other Navi were talking about caught the human's attention. While Mayl was too shocked to speak, Lan walked over to the computer, picked up his PET, and said, "Hmm? Mega? What about Roll? And who is that with you?"  
  
Megaman looked up, shocked, and stuttered, "La... Lan?!"  
  
Mayl was finally able to get over to the computer with out falling over because of her shaking knees, and asked quickly, "What was that about Roll? Please tell me..."  
  
Megaman looked up at the two screens where Lan and Mayl's faces were visible, and turned to Querso'n. "You tell them."  
  
However, finding herself under the intense gaze of two net-battlers, Querso'n was hardly able to make a "meep!" sound.  
  
Megaman, sighed, and turned to Lan and Mayl. "You guys... she was going to make a trade with Roll... but Roll never showed up last night."  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Roll looked around her. She remembered being put in the pod, the gas filling up all around her. However, she had been layign down, not standing upright, and why was she floating now, with nothing holding her up?  
  
She knew the reason for the fog, but last she checked, the gas that stabilized her during the procedure was red, black, and pink. Not purple, yellow and blue.   
  
She sighed, hoping that this was in her mind. However, the slight peacefulness that she got from relaxing like she was suddenly was broken by a voice, strong, with an undercurrent of malice.  
  
"Roll... what do you want to be?"  
  
Another voice joined the first one, this time, more pleasant, graceful- Roll thought that it sounded like silk.   
  
"Tell us Roll... and we will guide you..."  
  
Roll wondered what these voices were, and who they were comming from. But she decided to answer, anyways.  
  
"I... I want to be able to walk around the Undernet as long as I'm stuck here, without drawign too much notice."  
  
"You speak the truth the you know of." Voice 2 said.  
  
"But you are still not truthful with yourself." Voice 1 remarked.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Choose now... choose Roll or Eria..."  
  
Roll couldn't help but grin. Sho had explained to her what would happen if she went by her normal name.  
  
"Eria."  
  
"So it shall be..." Both Voice 1 and 2 said together, but although 1 sounded pleased, 2 sounded disapointed, and quite saddened.  
  
A sudden dark stream of light appeared out of the fog, and slammed into Roll. She felt her body giving out, and slowly sinking even deeper into oblivion. Although she was in much pain now, she had the gut feeling that there was more to come...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Sho gasped as she saw the huge light comming from the small area of the Undernet that she had just left. Something about that light just did not feel right...  
  
She took off towards it, leaving her post.   
  
Sho arrived in record time, only to find rubble where once stood the small 'building' where Eria and Fojou were.  
  
"Eria!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "ERIA! FOJOU!"  
  
Nothing but silence met her ears. She wondered how something could have gotten past her sensors so easily. The shifting of rubble annonced to her another presence, and she looked up quickly. Only to wish that she had never looked up at all. Fear raked her body, and she desperately wanted this all to be a dream, even though Navi's didn't sleep. Sho knew who this dark creature was, although she wished she didn't. She suddenly found her throat dry, as she looked up into the souless eyes of the Navi in front of her.   
  
"You..." she gasped, as it raised it's hand, and sturck down. The last thing that Sho would ever see as Sho, was an all-to familiar symbol. And her last thought before oblivion was quite simply, 'What went wrong?!'  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kay: hehe! Meesa like!  
  
Shila: Great, now you're Jar-Jar-Binks. Peachy.  
  
Kay: Hey, do you know where that went?  
  
Shila: *blinks* what, Jar-Jar-Binks?  
  
Kay: *sighs* NO! My Peachy!  
  
Shila: Pea- omigod, you mean that hand stuff that SamJa named? You've got to be kidding me.  
  
Kay: nope! did you take it?  
  
Shila: *snorts* what use would I have for hand sanitization lotion?  
  
Kay: *gasps* YOU SAID A BIG WORD!!!!!!!! What does that mean, anyways?  
  
Shila: *groans* I'm not you English teacher. And besides... what's up with the Lan-bashing?  
  
Kay: NO LAN BASHING! I just needed to prove a point that Lan seems to do better completely cluelessly, than thinking about things.  
  
Shila: so... then why-  
  
Kay: I DO NOT MEAN TO DO ANY CHARACTER BASHING!!!!!!!!! If I do, I am sorry, but I usually only do it to make a point, which might not be very obvious.  
  
Shila: so... how about that Gingle that you were re-writing?  
  
Kay: hehe. Yeah. That should be up soon, along with the original. I'm doing it to the tune of the "Gingle for Goldfish". So, in honour of that song...  
  
Song of the Chap: Gingle for Goldfish. Find a really old show from like a year ago, and listen to it today! [man, I sound like some advertiser person] 


	3. Bring in the Evil

Ta-Dah! I'm back!!!!!!!  
  
Shila: *groans* WHY ME?!  
  
Kay: why what?  
  
Shila: YOU?!  
  
Kay: Me? What about me?  
  
Shila: YOU'RE JUST... YOU!  
  
Kay: So? I like me. My friends like me. Why don't you like me?  
  
Shila: eh? I dunno...  
  
Kay: Exactly. You don't know. Anything. Anyways. Here's chappie 3. I have decided to postpone making Running from a one-shot into a... not one-shot for a little while, 'cause I have a million ideas for this story. And, yes, there might be a sequal to this story. Why? 'Cause I want to do a screwed-up cross-over. Those are fun. Although I'm pretty sure that a lot of people out there (namely my beta-reader, who decided to take a break before she even started reading) are going to kill me for what I'm planning... but I'm still a bit confussed about how to do one part.   
  
Shila: Talk much?  
  
Kay: yup! All my teachers say so. But my parent's don't believe them, and that's good for me! Anyways, for those people who actually read this story, here's a little explanation from my comlex mind, so if it's still a bit confussing, I'll explain it simply. Er. Anyways, ON WITH THE STORY! Or something like that... hehe:)!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Characters (great... long list *groans*)  
  
Lan Hikari aka Netto Hikari; Navi: Megaman, aka Saito  
  
Mayl Sakurai aka Meiru Sakurai; *Navi: Roll, aka Eria (in this story!)  
  
(And we all know the rest, right?  
  
Dex aka Dekao; Navi: Gustsman  
  
Chaud aka Enzan; Navi: Protoman aka Blues [whee!]  
  
Yai aka Yaito; Navi: Glyde  
  
Tori aka whats-his-name-again? Tahoru r summin? Navi: Iceman)  
  
*The name Roll is used when Mayl's Navi is the normal, pink-red-black colored Navi with long, blonde hair with the green bow.  
  
The name Eria is used when Roll was being refered to as Eria by Sho in the first and begining parts of the second chappie.   
  
Eria is also the name used for Roll when she completes her transformation.   
  
It is also the original name of Empress.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It walked through the undernet, blasting and deleting every Navi that he saw. A few put up a good fight, like that cloaked Navi, but they were all helpless against his almighty powers in the end. He desperately wanted to find a way to the CyberNet, but because of his currently limited capabilities, he would have to act through his new power source. Both Navis that he had first encountered had been great energy sources, but the one in the pod...  
  
He grinned, and searched his mind for the small strands of data that conected him to his new flunkies. Both black and white Navis were doing great, blasting anyone that came within blasting distance. And as guards. He praised himself for thinking of using them as energy sources and guards, because not only did they give him power, but they were now able to tap into his own great power supply to eliminate all oposition. And what they were guarding was more important to him than anything or anyone else that he had ever considered important, even his own life.  
  
The Navi in the pod. She was beautiful beyond comparison, and had such strange attributes... a side as innocent as innocent could be, but another side that was ruthless, blood-thirsty beyond comparison. She was quite a prize, and he was willing to protect her with his own life until she was ready. Ready to join him to decimate the net. All the nets. Ready to rule. By his side of course. He would prepare for her a great Cyber Kingdom, and in return, she would give him a great prize, for he had hacked into the programming, and changed it to his liking. Yes. She would give who ever gave her what she needed most is what he had programmed. So, she would give HIM the only thing that he had ever wanted, more than true power, more than a home, more than the next poor Navi for him to delete.   
  
She would give him herself.   
  
As not only a co-ruler, but something like a prize. With her hate and intelligence and battle strategies, and his iron fist (litterally) and brute strength, they would be unstopable. He grinned as he saw another few Navis see him and run. He was about to chase after them, when another thought struck him. If he could convince some of these Navis to convert, if he promised to give them power, and then send them out to convert more Navis to his new great kingdom, he would not only have faithful followers for his new Queen- but a limitless energy supply. And those fools would never know it.  
  
Using some of the power he had, he made himself a disguse out of spare data floating around, and wrapped it around himself like a cloak. He sped away after the Navis, fake fear in his eyes, and he spun a lie, that would convince anyone, and they would surely join him, and spread the word. Then they would wage battle against his enemies, delete them once and for all. And if they didn't like that? Then he would use the same techniques that he had used to get those other two Navis- their names were comming back to him, Shonæsa and Fojou- to his side.   
  
Whether they wanted to or not.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Mayl sighed peacefully as she curled up against Lan. They had moved from their position in her house to their position in Lan's house, so that his mom could bring them food while they worked tirelessly, looking for Roll. They had brought up more chairs, so that not only Lan, but also Mayl and anyone else who came over to help, like Yai and Tori, could sit around the computer. Yai and Tori, however, had gone home long ago, and while Lan had been trying to get ahold of either Dex or Chaud, he was having no luck. Mayl had decided, thanks to his mother's invitation, to stay at Lan's hosue for the night, at least. He knew that if they didn't find Roll tonight, that Mayl wouldn't be able to participate in the school's NetBattle day. It only came once a year, but was a huge event, since you were never allowed to NetBattle on school grounds at any other time.   
  
Other than the time that Higsby had locked them in, just to get Yai's rare battle chips.   
  
He looked down at Mayl's sleeping form, and felt a weird sense of peace. It seemed that no matter where he was, if he thought of Mayl, or was around her, he always seemed more calm, more [dare I say it!] mature. His mother and father had said so.   
  
He relaxed in his seat, thinking about what would happen if they found Roll, and what would happen if they didn't.   
  
As he slowly began to fall asleep, he failed to notice the small noise that ment, as the AOL guy says so simply, "You've Got Mail!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
Megaman and Quersoæn fell in a heap on the floor. They had just finished deleteing what had to be more than 100 different viruses, and at least 5 of each kind.   
  
[If anyone isn't doing the math, that would be at least 500 viruses!]  
  
None were easy to delete, and even the usual one-hit wonder Mettaurs were harder to delete- probably because they had to keep their eyes on all the viruses that could hit them, which were pretty much all the viruses. So it really wasn't easy. But by watching each other's back, they were able to delete them all.  
  
"*Gasp!* remind me- *pant* -to never, ever, EVER! *huff* do that a-*gasp* gain!" Quersoæn managed to get out, as she slowly lifted herself off the floor.   
  
"Well... I guess we know that some one doesn't want us here." Since Mega had much more experience virus-busting, he wasn't as tired. "So... where do you think we should check next?"  
  
"We didn't just do all that to leave," she stated firmly, "we're going in there, look up all the records, and then try to find where Roll's gone. She STILL owes me a CACDC PASS!" Quersoæn punched the air, and then dragged Mega up the steps. He caugth a fleeting gimpse of the sign beside it, "Hall of Records" before she dragged him through the doors.   
  
Inside were many Navis, all of them the strongest that Mega had ever seen. There were some legends, some that he had never heard of, 'Good guys' and 'Bad Guys' alike, searching through the shelves, looking through records of who-knows-what.  
  
Quersoæn dragged him through all of the shelves to the back desk, where another Navi stood, watching over everyone with hawk-eyes. Although at first intimidating, there was a hint of gentleness underneath that rough front. Which Quersoæn must have been able to pick up on immdeiately, or she would have been cowering behind Mega by now.  
  
"Excuse me. Do you know where the history for Navis who enter and leave the Net through homepages in ACDC1 is?" She asked politely. Mega gasped at how offical sounding she seemed.   
  
"Who's enquiring?" He pointed this question directly to Mega, and he spoke in such a deep voice, Mega could feel it through his non-existant bones.  
  
"Um... well, er..."   
  
"Speak boy!"  
  
"Me-Megaman.EXE and Quersoæn.EXE, and we're trying to find a friend- Roll.EXE?"  
  
  
  
"And to get my CACDC Pass!"  
  
He looked them over, and them made up his mind. "Quersoæn, you can see the records. However, your friend has not been truthful."  
  
Quersoæn was stunned. "What has he not been truthful about?!"  
  
"His name."  
  
Mega blanched, and nodded. "You're right, but... do I have to say it?"  
  
The huge Navi thought about it, then nodded. "You may whisper it- but loud enough so that Quersoæn can hear."  
  
He gulped. "Fine... S-Saito Hikari."  
  
Quersoæn looked at him in shock. However, the other Navi nodded. "You have both proven your worthiness, and your truthfulness. I shall personally guide you to what you seek. My name is Risuko.EXE."  
  
He led them down shelf upon shelf, row upon row, and up too many floors for Mega to count. They remained silent in thought, and it was obvious what Quersoæn and Risuko were thinking. Mega was trying to figure out how Risuko was able to tell he was lying, but didn't have much time to ponder it, because Risuko stopped suddenly, and accessed a file. It wasn't that big, but, except for one other file right beside, it, it was the biggest one there.   
  
"That is your file." Risuko stated, pointing the huge one out to Mega. "There will soon be much more when we find the rest of your file, from before. But here is the one you were looking for."  
  
He gave it to Megaman, who opened it immediately. He scanned through quickly, until he realised that it was in chronological order. Then, he flipped quickly to the last entered page, read the last few lines, and almost 'fainted'.   
  
Quersoæn looked over his shouled, and gasped at what was written.  
  
~19/12/200X  
  
-Entered net at 21:47:23 at point 1;78;56  
  
-Used one-use CScilab Pass at 21:53:56 at point 2;45;12  
  
-Entered Scilab at 22:00:15 at point 6;95;12  
  
-Warped to Scilab Square at 22:05:35 at point 6;03;60  
  
20/12/200X  
  
-Exited Scilab Square through un-known means at 5:49:01  
  
-Lost track of subject at 8:00:00 due to power surges with unknown source~  
  
"Unknown this, unknown that, what is going on here?!" Quersoæn asked the air. Mega had made a quick copy of the last page of the file, and opened his own.  
  
~15/07/200X  
  
-Began to fight Protoman in N1GrandPrix at 12:00:18  
  
-Activated Program Advance at 12:06:42  
  
-Structure deleted at 12:12:12 due to Pharoman~  
  
Megaman stopped reading with a sigh of relief. "As long as Roll isn't deleted..."  
  
Quersoæn grabbed him and shook him hard. "What do you mean?! You just going to give up searching for her?! And how do you know she wasn't deleted?!"  
  
Mega sighed, and first showed Quersoæn the copy that he had made of Roll's last page of her file, and then his own. "I've been deleted once- that's what this says. And Roll's file just says that she left by unkown means. There's still a chance."  
  
Risuko grunted. "Just because it doesn't say that she was deleted, doesn't mean that she isn't. The records give facts- if something is done because of an unknown reason, or by an unknown way, then that it was what it says."  
  
"Rain on our parade, why don't you..." Quersoæn muttered.   
  
"Come on, Quersoæn," Mega said with a sigh, "we should get going. There's nothing here that could help us out now. Um, Risuko? Can I still keep this copied file, or do I have to delete it?"  
  
"You may keep it- but only if your Net-Ops, and any other Net-Ops and Net Navis that you feel are worth seeing it see it."  
  
Mega nodded. "Thank you, Risuko... I hope to see you again."  
  
The taller Navi nodded. "May your travels be well, and in good health."  
  
With that, Megaman dragged Quersoæn out of the Hall, since she was still glaring at Risuko.  
  
"Lan and Mayl would really want to see this..."   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Roll turned her head around. The fog was still surrounding her, but now it was almost completely blue. The two voices, who now had dark shapes for figures had disappeared for some time. Now, however, they were back in full force, arguing- and gicing Roll the biggest head-ache that she had ever had.  
  
"What, do you mean the Base-Gate program activated here?!" The silky voice [now know as voice 2] was filled with worry.  
  
"Simple- it did." The sinister one [aka voice 1] replied. Roll wondered for a moment what this 'Base-Gate' was, but it was driven from her mind by the next comment.  
  
"Well... I guess we should get the troops out. He is probably wanderign around the Undernet right now, deleteing everything... why is it that in each dimension he's always different?" Voice 2 asked.  
  
"Who knows... but I'm glad that she chose Eria."  
  
"BECAUSE you fed your representative the wrogn information!"  
  
Roll blinked. Representative? Who was that?  
  
"Excuse me..."  
  
"Yes? Oh, sorry- we were ignoring you, weren't we?"  
  
Roll sighed. "Can I just ask you one thing?"  
  
Voice 1 snickered. "No need to ask- your body is going through the changing process. But, because He found a way to get from His prision, it will take much longer to complete your trnasformation."  
  
"He? Who is He?"  
  
Voice 2 sighed. "He is the embodiment of all evil- and we were just able to restrain Him the last time- with quite a bit of help from 2.2, might I add. And before that 2.1, and before that 1.1- TWICE! There's been many re-incarnations of him, whether alive or... not. And it happens that He just found a way here."  
  
Roll thought for a moment. "So... am I... deleted?"  
  
"Hell no!" Voice 1 called out. "Dead?! YOU?! That is the funniest thing I have ever heard!"  
  
"Um... why?"  
  
Voice 2's shadow reached over and- "OW!" seemed to punch Voice 1 in the head. "Ignore her..."   
  
"Ignore me?! She deserves to know!"  
  
*sigh* "Fine... you see, Roll- you have won favour with many beings that do not exist in this dimension, including us. But you are not the only one. The other will get visits soon enough from those who have chosen to guide them. But there can only be one other being from outside this dimsension that will guide. And all those must answer to one being. And they answer to four beings, who answer to the one creator. And all the beings are spread out throught the dimensions. Did you get that?"  
  
"Um... I think... but... what do you mean that only one guide? So why do I have two?"  
  
Voice 2 sighed. "Because, Roll, you are you. And you need two guides."  
  
"That doesn't clear anything up."  
  
"Just because Roll- just because." Voice 1 spoke up, in a rather calming voice. "Just trust us."  
  
Roll snorted- she wasn't sure if she could trust them, but another beam of dark light suddenly came out of no where, and struck her in the chest. As she once again driffted into unconciousness, she wondered who this "Him" was, and if he was anywhere near her friends...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kay: Well, I thought that I would put in some kind of prelude to some weird romance-ish stuff that will probably happen later. That and some stuff that will lead into my oh-so-pretty messed up crossover that I think I've already got written in my head. Yeah!  
  
Shila: And what would you call that sorry excuse for a story, then?  
  
Kay: Something that I'll come up with- eventually. And I'm planning on putting Tialsia in there, somewhere. Even though I hate cameos by the writer, or director, or person who lives around the writer. But some are cool.  
  
Shila: Yeah... so, about last chappie...  
  
Kay: GAH!!! I was just reading through chappie 2, and I caught some horrendus errors.   
  
Shila: really? Who would have thought...  
  
Kay: Shush. Anyways, here's the corrections:  
  
1) I meant to say Bedroom. Not bathroom. I was reading, and I was like, What was I talking about?! And then I realized that I wrote that part at almost one o'clock in the morning, after reading a... VERY adult story that my friend happened to send me, featuring Inu Yasha and Kagome. And it was also this friend, aka Damino, that pointed out this little mistake... she was wondering if I was going to turn this into a lemon. Trying to convince her otherwise was a REAL hardship, and she even offered to DO a lemon, taking it's cue from the last chappie. I think that she still is... *groans* what have I done?!  
  
2) Okay, I'm just going to say it all here: a ton of spelling mistakes. Response, extremely, and finding were some of the many words that I spelt wrong. Man, I stink at spelling...  
  
3) Mrs. McGrath is my English teacher. She's nice to people who get over 60%, but everyone else seems to get the death-glare/evil eye from Hell. Okay, think of the old man's eye from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart". His "vulture" eye. Picture it glaring, with-out the film on it. That's Mrs. McGrath's evil eye. *shudders*  
  
Okay, I think I'm done.  
  
Shila: Yeah! So, R&R, 'cause I want to prove to Kay here that no one likes her stories...  
  
Kay: And I want to prove that Shila is an incompetant idjit. Did I spell that right?  
  
Shila: And if anyone has read the book "Eva" by Peter Dickinson, please tell Kay what's happening in it. So she can explain it to me.  
  
Kay: Yes, since Shila here doesn't seem to understand English.  
  
Shila: Japanese.  
  
Kay: Same difference. Anyways... okay, I'm still not sure if I'm going to actually continue Running now. Why?  
  
Shila: You're lazy?  
  
Kay: Ye-NO! I just... um... want to finish this thing first, ya know?  
  
Shila: Actually, I don't. But I'll be glad to take over writing it for you!  
  
Kay: Why do I get the bad feeling that that would be a VERY BAD idea?  
  
Shila: Feeling? What feeling? Especially considering that you got frost-bite in your feet... how are your toes anyways?  
  
Kay: IN PAIN, NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT! Besides... it's just my Big toe on my left foot now, and although it feeling almost like i broke it, I don't think I did. Doesn't feel that way- not alot, anyways...  
  
Shila: And what if you did break it?  
  
Kay: Then I know that snowboarding at the outback at Mount St. Louis Moonstone is not a good idea when it's only your second time on a snowboard.  
  
Shila: No, ya think?  
  
Kay: Well, anyways, see ya next chappie!  
  
Shila: Whenever that is...  
  
Song of the chappie: "I Am- Inu Yasha opening theme-Japanese version" by hitomi. Awesome song. Download it today! Yeah! 


	4. New Players

Can you believe how soon I started this again?  
  
Shila: *blinks, and looks at the calendar* soon? YOU CALL THIS SOON?! IT'S BEEN ALMOST 3 WEEKS SINCE YOU LAST UPDATED!!!!!!!!!  
  
Kay: I know... so?  
  
Shila: *sweatdrops* nevermind...  
  
Kay: anyways, this chappie is going to focus more on the Cybernet, or Cyber Matrix. I, personally, don't like the term "Cyber Matrix", because it makes me think of the Matrix trilogy, and that makes me think about what if it really was a Matrix, and all the Navis were actually people, unconcious somewhere... and then I get angry, because it makes me think.  
  
Shila: aw... poor you... you have to think...  
  
Kay: only for another 4 days!  
  
Shila: 4 days? why? *checks the calendar again* what... ooh.... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *faints*  
  
Kay: well, now that Shila has fainted, I can continue without any interuptions. As I was saying, this chappie is going to focus more on the Cyber Matrix (grrr....), and those Navis and Net-ops that are still there, especially their feelings on the whole "Roll's dissapeared!" thing, and Mayl's... Querso'n-like behavior... aka mood swings. The next chappie is going to focus on Roll/Eria, and the Undernet, while the one after that is going to serve the prupose of catching everyone up on what's been happening... elsewhere, and what partially leads up to this story, but also into Warp Fusion (my messed-up crossover), and even a little bit into Running... which I'm thinking of smushing into the whole Warp Fusion thing, like I am going to do to this one. Er, story I mean. And if anyone is confussed (as I'm sure that at least one person is) then please email me with what you're confussed about, or review, like PhoenixTales369, who gets a huge Vanilla Cake, since I can't eat cake... for those of you who don't know this, it's lent, and I gave up cakes and cookies... wah!!!!!!!! Oh well... the cake should be good for Phoenix's little road trip with Tenshi Kaprio on Netto Cam: Road trip. And now that I'm done babbling... for now... no with the story! Or something to that effect....  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
" "- talking  
  
' '- the swoosh thing you do with your fingers  
  
~ ~-letters, emails, notes  
  
* *-thoughts  
  
( )-added thoughts that could be taken out from the story, and it would still make sense  
  
[ ]- Authors notes in the middle of the story, just in case I need to, although I hate doing this  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Characters (great... long list *groans*)  
  
Lan Hikari aka Netto Hikari; Navi: Megaman, aka Saito  
  
Mayl Sakurai aka Meiru Sakurai; *Navi: Roll, aka Eria (in this story!)  
  
(And we all know the rest, right?  
  
Dex aka Dekao; Navi: Gustsman  
  
Chaud aka Enzan; Navi: Protoman aka Blues [whee!]  
  
Yai aka Yaito; Navi: Glyde  
  
Tori aka whats-his-name-again? Tahoru r summin? Navi: Iceman)  
  
*The name Roll is used when Mayl's Navi is the normal, pink-red-black colored Navi with long, blonde hair with the green bow.  
  
The name Eria is used when Roll was being refered to as Eria by Sho in the first and begining parts of the second chappie.   
  
Eria is also the name used for Roll when she completes her transformation.   
  
It is also the original name of Empress.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It had been almost two days now that Roll was missing. Mayl was getting more worried by the second, and the feeling was quickly catching to those closest to her- namely Lan, Dr. and Haruka Hikari, Megaman, and Querso'n, who had been working non-stop for the last few days trying to find Roll. The lead that Mega and Querso'n had found didn't help much- but at least it told them that it would be useles to keep searching in the net.   
  
Lan and Mayl spent the time that they weren't sitting in front of the computer screen, sleeping, eating or in school asking around if anyone knew anything. But that wasn't really helping- the Navis would know more about what was going on inside the Net than their Net-ops would.  
  
While the two humans worked on the outside, Mega kept asking around both Scilab and ACDC Square for info, and Querso'n was busy continuously checking both Roll and Mega's files to see if there was any change, or if anything seemed remotely the same. No one knew why Querso'n was working so hard to find Roll- other than the fact that Roll still had Querso'n's CACDCPass. They were glad that she was working with them, of course, and although it seemed that she never went back to her Net-op, she seemed perfectly content to 'sleep' on the link to, or on, Lan's homepage- their "home base".  
  
Yai and Tori had been also working hard to find Roll, but they could only help so much. The fact that Yai's father was rich and powerful certainly helped, and any hands or help that they could get from anyone was greatly appreciated.   
  
However, no one was prepared for what happened on the morning of their third day of searching...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Lan.. Lan... LAN!"   
  
"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm awake, I'm awake!"  
  
Mayl shook her head, in slight embarrasement. "Lan, you're hopeless..."  
  
He grinned as he slowly got out of bed, almost tripped on the cot that Mayl slept in, and made his way over to his computer, where Mayl was currently sitting. "No, I'm just tired... is mom making pancakes?" He asked, as he sniffed the air.  
  
"No... she left about half an hour ago, while you were still asleep. She's gone out to do the shopping, and since it is a weekend, I volunterted both of us to clean the house. And you have to cook your own food."  
  
Lan's smile quickly disapeared off his face. "Wha... what?! You're not serrious? Isn't there anything to eat?"  
  
"There is... but it's called cooking, Lan, and you're going to have to do some."  
  
"But... what about Roll?"  
  
Mayl shook her head again. "We'll find her when we find her, Lan. Megaman's askign around the entire net today, not just the Squares, and Querso'n's gone back to the Hall for more research. They'll be fine- besides, Mega's travelling with Protoman today, and Glyde and Iceman are teaming up as well. So, go cook!"  
  
Lan just stood there in shock. "What do you mean that Megaman is travelling with Protoman?! When did Chaud agree to help?! Not that I'm complaining, but..."  
  
Mayl sighed now. "I got an email from him this morning, asking why we were being so annoying, and bugging everyone. I told him, and he agreeded to help out, if it would help to shut us up quicker and stop scaring away all his oppenents. So I agreed. Oh, and Yai wants to meet us later at an office building downtown to talk about a good 'search and rescue' plan for Roll. We have to be there by 1, so that gives us about... 2 1/2 hours."  
  
It was Lan's turn to shake his head. "You could have woken me up sooner! And, well, Chaud will be Chaud... so can you help me find something to eat? Please?"  
  
Mayl laughed as she followed Lan out of his room. A small beeping from their PETs sounded through-out the room, but since no one was there to answer, it went un-noticed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Wish I was... too dead to cry... the self affliction fades.... Stones to throw at my creator... the masochist to which I cater... umm, what's a masochist?"  
  
Querso'n was singing quietly to herself a song that her "sister" Navi had once sung to her- it had originally made Querso'n feel sad, but now, she could see the truth behind the words- if she could only figure out what some of them meant.   
  
A Navi next to her looked over at Querso'n, startled by the question. "I beg your bardon?"  
  
Querso'n looked over at the Nav beside her. She had silver, white, red, yellow, and gold armor. Her hair was pulled up underneath her helmet. She had a piece of gold cloth that went over her nose, and a yellow mouth-filter over that. She wore a red, short and tight vest, which ended just below her breasts. Her stomach, arms and upper legs were silver, with red and yellow spirals and designs all over them. She had a belt of purest white, with a Navi symbol at the most front part, which pointed downwards. She wore off-white gloves, and arm-guards, which also had the Navi symbol on them. Her off-white boots went up to just below her knee, and, again, had the Navi symbol. Her helmet covered the top part of her forehead, and had a crown-like band across it, separated into dimond shapes, with small patches of silver and gold on it.   
  
Her Navi symbol was a circle divided by an outward-curving line a little past the half-way mark.Another line, starting at the highest point on the curve, separated the smaller section into halves.  
  
Querso'n looked at her for a few moments, before sighing, and shaking her head. "I... just don't know what a masochist is. Do you?"  
  
The other Navi blinked. "Yes... a sadist is someone like... Sadam Husein, who brings down bad things upon others, so a masochist is someone who brings down bad thing upon themselves."  
  
Querso'n made sure to remember that definition for no apparent reason, before she realized something. "I'm sorry to bug you again, but... who's Sadam Husein?"  
  
The other Navi thought about it for a moment, before responding carefully, "I do not know. My Net-op used that definition when she told it to me, so she should know who he is or was..."  
  
"You're lying."  
  
That voice came from behind the two Navis. It scared Querso'n, but the other Navi didn't seemed to surprised by it.   
  
"What do you mean, Risuko?" She asked, with a monotone voice.  
  
"I mean that you do know who this Sadam Husein person is. It is in my programming to tell who is lying."  
  
The other Navi grinned. "I could change your programming, if you want."  
  
Risuko shook his head. "No thank you Tialsia. But I am curious as well. Who is this Sadam?"  
  
Querso'n looked over at Tialsia. "Well? Are you going to answer?"  
  
Tialsia nodded. "Sure... but then you have to answer a question of mine afterwards."  
  
"Deal."  
  
Tialsia leaned back against the shelf upon which all the records were kept. "Well... Sadam Husein was a very bad man... he was the dictator of an old country called Iraq. Another one of the old countries, called the United States of America, wagged war on Irag because they thought that Sadam had a lot of Nuclear weapons, but it was never proven, I think, and... oops, I think that my Net-op actually said that Osama Bin Laden was a sadist, not Sadam... oh well."  
  
"Then who is Osama Bin Laden?"   
  
"Well... *sigh* Osama Bin Laden was thought to be a terrorist leader... well, he was, the leader of Al Queada, which was a terrorist group, but what started what was called the "War on Terrorism" was when two planes were hijaked by suicide bombers, and crashed into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City- one of the more important cities on the Eastern Seaboard. Another hikajed plane crashed into the defense area of the Pentagon- the United State's main... control center, I guess you could call it, and another crashed into a field not too far from where the President was supposedly staying. That right there made almost all the countries who were a part of NATO- the North Atlantic Treaty Organization- wanted to start a war agaisnt Terrorism, so that they could be safe. Thousands died on that day- September 11th, or 9-11, as some people liked to call it. So, Osama was the sadist, and Sadam was the unproven sadist. Okay?"  
  
Querso'n and Risuko just stood there, before the larger Navi grunted, and left.   
  
"Now... um, what was your name again?"  
  
"Querso'n."  
  
"Okay, Querso'n... can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Where did you hear that song that you were singing?"  
  
Querso'n thought that it was a strange question, but replied, "my... sister... used to sing it to me... but one day she left, and I thought that I had forgotten the song... and I guess I have, because those first few lines were all that I could remember about it."  
  
Tialsia nodded. "Interesting... well, I need to get going." She put away the file that she had been looking at, which promptly disapeared into the rest of the files, stood up and stretched. "Well, good-bye, Querso'n, and I hope to see you again."  
  
Querso'n nodded, and watched as Tialsia descended the "stairs".   
  
'I wonder what she was doing...'  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Megaman grunted as he dodged another attack from the viruses. It ocured to him that lately all the viruses had been moving in large packs. Protoman was at his back, keeping half of the viruses at bay, while Mega had to keep the other half from getting any closer.   
  
And then it occured to him that they only moved in packs around the Hall, where he was taking Protoman to find Querso'n so that they could actually meet for once.   
  
"Are you sure that you're not just trying to find a way to do me in quickly with out getting your hands dirty?" Protoman asked Mega, as they both deleted a few more viruses.  
  
"If I wanted to delete you, I would be doing that myself, not getting some viruses to do it... although, it would be nice to have Rush right now..."  
  
As Mega said that, he drifted into his thoughts. While his body kept blasting away everything infront of him, his mind wandered freely. He at first began to think of how easy they could defeat these viruses if Rush was there, then he realized that Rush would be there if Roll was there, then he continued to think about how if Roll was there, they wouldn't even be fighting these viruses, or he wouldn't know Querso'n, or about the Hall... and then he asked himself, that if everything turned out okay, would he really regret not finding Roll sooner? Of course, he missed her dearly, but if he had found her right away... he would never have met very many people, and that made him feel... kind of empty.  
  
"Hello? Mega? You there?"   
  
"Hmm? What? Oh, sorry, Protoman... I just let my thoughts wander..."  
  
"Well, don't do it again any time soon! In case you haven't noticed MORE viruses have come since you started to day-dream?!"  
  
And so, the great virus-deletion brigade started... again, and it continued on like that for another couple minutes, until both Navis were getting worn down. However, that was soon to be evened out when glowing, red rings pulsing with energy and electricity surrounded 10 of the viruses, and deleted them. Quickly, another ten, and then another ten were deleted in the same way.  
  
"Wha... what? What's going on?" Mega asked, startled.  
  
"I... don't know.." Protoman responded, his voice filled with uneasy-ness.  
  
"Oh, come on... don't tell me that two of the greatest Navis of right now can't even defeat a couple hundred viruses easily? And she says I need training..." said a voice from behind the two male Navis.  
  
They looked behind them to find a young Navi, dressed in red, gold, yellow, silver and white standing there, with ten red rings looped around her arms, legs, neck, stomach, head... everywhere that a round ring could wrap around, there was one. [I am soooo not re-doing her description again.. go scroll up if you already forget it.]  
  
"Excuse me.. do I know you?" Protoman asked, still not lowering his weapon.  
  
"No... if you knew me from before this, I'm pretty sure that F'del‰ would kill me... that or decide to give me one of those battle chips..." she shuddered. "Every time I do something wrong...oh well, so you're Megaman and Protoman, huh? Nice to meet you. My name's Tialsia. I'm... not from around here, I guess you could say."   
  
Protoman and Megaman looked her over again. "... why are there those rings around you? They just deleted at least 4 dozen viruses!"  
  
She sighed and shook her head. "I'm in battle mode, dingus... and viruses aren't that bad, actually, I've heard of one that saved a couple o' thousand people... anyways, I need to get going. Sometimes I wonder why on Earth I do things like this!" She shook her head, and stretched out her arms. The Navi symbols glowed a couple of times, and the rings slowly dissapeared. "Well, see ya guys!"   
  
She quickly ran off, away from the hall.   
  
"...that was interesting..." Protoman stated.  
  
"Oh, yeah... wonder what battle chips she was talking about?"   
  
"I guess it doesn't matter... come on, I need to meet this Querso'n person soon, so that I can get back to doing what I'm supposed to be doing- not running around the net, looking for some little, lost, pethetic navi."  
  
Megaman turned then to look at Protoman with a look of utmost hatred on his face. "What... did you just say about Roll? She is worth a million times more than you!"  
  
Protoman was startled by Megaman's rebuke, but shrugged it off- not without some un-easiness. "Someone's getting a little defensive, isn't he? Now, come on- I don't have time for this."  
  
Protoman walked away towards the hall. Megaman stared after him for a moment, before looking at the rest of the net from where he stood.  
  
'Don't worry, Roll...' he thought. 'We'll find you... I'll make sure of it.'  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tialsia couldn't help but laugh as she over-heard the two navis arguing. "Devotion... and maybe something else... oh, Megaman, your father really knew what he was doing when he turned your dead body and memories into a Navi..." she couldn't help but sigh at the next thought. "Although WHY on Earth they would name you Hub... I am quite happy that you used the name Saito... I guess it is just your programming that switched the name from English into Japanese... grr.... if the entire planet wasn't already blown up, I would gladly kill those Capcom idiots and whoever did the translating..."  
  
She couldn't help but grin again, as she activated her shadow-cloaking program, and sent a quick message to both Lan and Mayl.  
  
"Hehehe... they probably won't understand this message, and if they aren't there at their PETs in 10 minutes, it won't matter..." she couldn't help but sigh again. "If only your heart wasn't already taken... I know far more about you, Megaman, than you could ever imagine... but, Destiny is, after all, extremely creul... now to report to F'del‰..."  
  
No one noticed the black shadow moving quietly through the net, or the fact that she carried with her a very important piece of data.  
  
'But first...' she thought with a grin, as she ended up just outside the SciLab mainframe, 'to plant the first clue... to everything...'  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
She sat in the shadows, watching everyone walking casually by. Some of them were shopping, some where talking, some were heading to lunch. She pittied them, and their easy, perfect, organized and orderly lives- which would be turned upside down within ten years.  
  
"Roll going missing is the first key- soon, the rest shall fall into place."  
  
"I beg your bardon, Ms...? But may I ask what you are doing?"  
  
She turned around to find an older-looking gentelman, wearing a tux, standing over her shoulder, and looking down on her, with a kind smile on his face. Behind him, the side door of the office building was open. Peering outside the door, she saw a young girl with a large fore-head, braided blonde hair, and wearing a red dress.  
  
Turning her attention back to the man, she replied casually, "no, you may not. Can a simple person not simply stand in the shadows and watch the poor, unknowing and hopeless people completeing their daily chores or enjoying themselves, which will soon be nothing more than a memory?"  
  
At first, she noted, he started at her reply, but he continued, "I am sorry then, Ms, but I must ask you to leave these shadows, since there is a private meeting going on behind me."  
  
She nodded and got slowly up from her seat on a crate. "I will leave... oh, and Ms. Aiono..." the younger girl in the doorway started as the man had done, "be careful tonight... we don't want anyone finding about this whole Roll thing... it could easily become a nation-wide disaster." With that, she walked casually into the street- only to look up, see something, and dodge into the alley directly across the street.   
  
Yai was confussed as to her movements, but was just as confussed, and equally surprised as Lan and Mayl walked into view, and the other girl's eyes followed the two friends as they walked. When they had passed, she quickly dodged out of the alley, and made her way quickly down the street, in the oposite direction.  
  
"Yai! We're here!" Came the call of the aforemention best friends, who had just walked into the office.  
  
Yai was glad to see them. "Hey!" She greeted them as they walked over to her. "Tori and Dex should be coming soon, although Dex has been really down lately... I wonder why... do you guys want a seat?"  
  
Lan nodded. "Yeah... thanks Yai..."  
  
"Hello, my adoring public! Have you come to watch me, the BEST NetBattler in all of Den City, as I crush Lan and Megaman once and for all?!"  
  
The three in the office sweatdropped as Dex and Tori made their way into the office. As Dex sat down beside Mayl, who looked quite confussed, Tori took a seat between Yai and Lan, and whispered, "he was like this the entire way. I had to just say that he was joking, or it was lined for the play, so many people were staring... and then he started going on about how Mayl would so completely fall in love with him... it was really embarrasing..."  
  
"Hmm-hmm?"  
  
That stopped all talk in the room. Everyone looked over to the doorway, where Chaud stood, leaning against the door frame.  
  
"Were you having a meeting without me?"  
  
Yai snorted, and turned her head away huffily. "Yes... what's your point?"  
  
Chaud smirked. "Well, based on recent occurances, the only reason, I would think, about you meeting here was to talk about Roll, and her being missing. And since I have become part of this... ensemble, I would have thought that I would be invited to a meeting such as this."  
  
Everyone looked at Mayl and Lan.  
  
"What?" they asked in unison. "We needed the help... just four Navis wouldn't be enough to find Roll..." Mayl continued hastily.  
  
"And five IS?!" Yai retorted.  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Can we continue this fighting later?!"  
  
Everyone looked in surprise this time to Lan, who shrugged, just as bewildered, and looked at his PET screen, which showed a picture of the inside of the hall, with Protoman, Querso'n and Risuko in the background, as well as some other Navis that they had never seen before, who were all looking at Megaman astounded.   
  
He blushed slightly at everyone staring at him, but continued, "If we want to find Roll, fighting isn't going to help. Nor is boasting, or making inapropriate comments."  
  
Protoman nodded in the background. "Megaman is right. We need to concentrate on our central task, and that is finding Roll. Not bickering with each other."  
  
The NetBattlers in Yai's office acknodledged this, and nodded their assent, as well as all of the Navis involved.  
  
Yai suddenly remembered something. "You guys! Just before you two got here (she pointed to Mayl and Lan) there was a weird girl in the shadows behind the office. She said something about Roll missing being the first key, then she started talking about... that we're hopeless or something, and that this will all be a memory? And when we asked her to leave, she walked out into the street, but when she saw Lan and Mayl coming, she ran into another alley, hid there until they walked by, then ran in the other direction..."  
  
Lan and Mayl looked at each other. "Wonder what that was about..." Mayl stated.  
  
"Hey, can you guys jack us in? We want to help too!" Iceman called out to Tori from his PET.   
  
"Alright..."  
  
Yai, Tori and Dex walked to a central computer, and said together, "Jack in! Glyde.EXE/Iceman.EXE/Gutsman.EXE transmission!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
He cursed. Loudly.   
  
"Dr. Hikari? Are you alright?" A young intern asked worriedly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine... but I'm not sure if the computer system will be..."  
  
He ran his fingers through his once tidy, red hair, which was now askew. He adjusted his glasses, and looked again at the screens infront of him.  
  
Yuuichiro(sp?) Hikari's eyes followed the quickly ascending lines of binary code- except for 3 lines, which kept appearing. They were made up of no letters or numbers that had seen, and he had designed many of the new codes. They had apeared in the encripted part of SciLab's data- and, he noticed, the symbols appeared at the end of one code, and the begging of the other- like who, or whatever, put them in there, knew exactly where one started- like the codes weren't encripted at all.  
  
Put this mess ontop of everything else that had been going on, namely Roll disapearing, but not being deleted (they hoped), and he knew that there was no way that he could possibly be able to get home for another couple of days.  
  
"Great..." he hissed.   
  
A few of the symbols he began to recognize, like alpha, beta, delta, and omega, but many of the others were unfamiliar to him. There was, in one part, onyl two letters that he recognized- but they were stuck together, and he knew that they didn't not mean the separate letters "a" and "e"- they made a new letter, one which he did not understand. And, he also noticed, there was a strange... name, he could only guess, in it- "'thelweard". He had no idea what it was, but he could only assume that it had something to do with the '- after all, that letter was in the word/name.  
  
Further down, he found only one more, slightly recognizable word. He could not pronounce it, nor could he understand what it meant.  
  
So, hopping that some one knew, he called everyone else on duty, interns to doctors, to try to see if anyone knew what it was. Only one intern did, by the name of Edward. Well, he knew how to pronounce it anyway, and the word spread quickly, around the room, until it reached back to Dr. Hikari's ears. He sent out an email to everyone in ACDC, Den City, everywhere that he could reach, including Creamland, Nettopia and other foreign cities and countries. And soon, all anyone with a Navi could think was...  
  
"Yggdrasil... what is that?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tialsia was trying extremely hard not to laugh at Dr. Hikari's and his collegues antics.  
  
"What is Yggdrasil... hah! Man, you WOULD think that they would know... although, I do like the old myths about the Tree, the real thing is sooo much more sophisticated. Or at least high-tech." She couldn't help but grin, as everyone started trying to also pronounce the '. Which made Tialsia laugh even harder.  
  
"They call themselves smart! Hehehe... you WOULD think that they would know old English, it is one of the Old Languages that they new Common is based off of..." she could help but sigh. "This... is going to be harder than what I thought. I sure hope that the chosen ones here will figure this out... I'm sure, with all their "connections" that they'll be able to figure out what everything means, or it will be a real shocker soon..."  
  
She couldn't help but laugh again at the probable looks on everyone's faces when they found out the truth...  
  
As she jumped away, he shadow cloaking program back on, one more thought crossed her mind, right as she lept over the Hall. She didn't realise that she accidentally activated her special ability- telepathy.  
  
*I can't believe that they haven't realized... it was pure genious putting 'thelweard in there- Nobel Guardian. It matches the twin's description soooo perfectly... ooh! I wonder what the Navi one is doing... hopefully, trying to work out that code, which I think is now a prophecy...*   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Megaman's head shot up.  
  
"What is it, Megaman?" Iceman asked, worried at their friend's strange behavior.  
  
The blue bomber simply closed his eyes, and stood up straight. Although looking weird to all those around them, Megaman was hearing something in his head in a female voice that he had heard before, but couldn't seem to place it.  
  
*I can't believe that they haven't realized... it was pure genious putting 'thelweard in there- Nobel Guardian. It matches the twin's description soooo perfectly... ooh! I wonder what the Navis doing... hopefully, trying to work out that code, which I think is now a prophecy...*   
  
He slowly opened his eyes, and muttered quietly, "'thelweard... that's what it means..."  
  
Since standing up, and staying there so stock still for a couple seconds, he had caught a few Navi's attention.  
  
"What... did you just say?" Protoman asked quietly.  
  
Megaman looked at him with steady eyes for a second. Then he shook his head, and replied, "that email we got from d... Dr. Hikari (it was obvious to all the Navis around him that he meant to say something else, but they would bug him about it at a different time)... I'm still not sure what Yggdrasil is, but... the other word... it's pronouncved 'thelweard, it means 'Nobel Guardian or something..."  
  
They all looked at Megaman with confussed faces. Finally, Glyde decided to speak up.  
  
"Megaman... are you sure that that is what it means?"  
  
He nodded his head.  
  
"How do you know, Guts?" Gutsman asked.  
  
Megaman looked at him, and tried to think of something that wouldn't sound so crazy as, 'I heard it in my head'. He knew who the twins were... especially since he was pretty sure that there wasn't any other twins where one of them was a Navi.  
  
"I just do, Gutsman... I just do."  
  
Seeing that they weren't going to get any other sort of information out of the blue bomber right then, all the Navis in the room relayed the information to their Net-ops. All the Navis, including those who didn't even know Megaman. But they were suddenly intrigued by this blue Navi, who didn't seem like a normal Navi at all.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tialsia watched the whole things from the shadows, and could only think of one word.  
  
*Ooops*  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Megaman concentrated on the voice again, and looked straight up. He saw something move, but then freeze under his steady gaze. He wanted to call up, but decided not to draw any more attention to himself than there already was.  
  
So, instead he thought, *who's there?*  
  
To his surprise, he got a response.  
  
*Oh, don't tell me that you've forgotten already!*  
  
He blinked for a second, before remembering where he had heard that voice.  
  
*You're name... wasn't it Tialsia?*  
  
*Yup! Listen... you weren't supposed to know about 'thelweard, but since you do, I'll tell you what Yggdrasil is, as long as you don't tell anyone else.*  
  
He thought that over for a moment before replying with a non-energetic, *yes*.  
  
*Alright. In myths and legends, Yggdrasil was a huge tree planted by the Gods that connected Earth and the Spiritual realms. Earth was at it's base, and heaven in it's branches. But, in fact, Yggdrasil is an advanced computer, operated by Gods and Goddesses alike, controling mostly everything that is not natural- in one case, you. Since you've already said that you know what 'thelweard was, you should not say anything more. Please, take care- life is going to get much harder, but I know that you will eventually get to meet some important friends of mine- four of them being those Goddesses that operate Yggdrasil. Ja ne, Hub... Saito.*  
  
Megaman stared at the dark spot that he assumed was Tialsia. Then he lowered his head, and looked at the ground, deep in thought about what he had just been told.  
  
*Controls unnatural things- things like me... I wonder... does that involve Lan, too?*   
  
Only Protoman noticed his movements. He looked up as well, and saw a darker form on the "ceiling".   
  
"What is that..." he muttered to himself. However, just as he was about to draw attention to it, the shadow disapeared, leaving no evidence that it was ever there.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Wow... I didn't think that this chappie would be this long...  
  
Shila: Yeah... and it took you ALL or March Break to finish it! Now, if only you could write faster for some other things...  
  
Kay: Like what?  
  
Shila... oh, I dunno, Running?  
  
Kay: I already said, Running's chappie 2 is at school! I can't exactly work on it... and besides, the sooner I get this finished, the sooner I can start on Warp Fusion... although it probably won't make any sense until I completely finish Running. I'm thinking of just forgetting the idea of writing it at school, and just doing that at home on the stupid Word and Note Pads.  
  
Shila: Goodie for you. And what was up with that whole thing about the "Tribute to Takato?"  
  
Kay: Well... I was up late one night, and I had just finished watching a couple of sad movies, and I was like, "that really got me thinking about what it would be like to be in someone's position, and have someone you hold close leave you." So, I immediately thought of Takato (one track mind!), and started writing down quotes and things that I thought that Rika or someone else close to Takato would say who's life he had changed drastically. And then I kinda smushed the all together.  
  
Shila: You like long-winded explanations, don't you?  
  
Kay: Well, I did a run-on sentence once! It was for that Card Captor Sakura fanfic... the one that I have only 8 chapters for? That I was trying to write about a year ago?  
  
Shila: Well, let's not hear it now... maybe post the story, and continue it?  
  
Kay: hhhmmmm... that's actually a good idea... but I'll have to do a major spell-check. And some other stuff first.  
  
Shila: Alright... now, everyone else, R&R!!!!! She needs more ideas to lead up to the final scene. Kay's got that all nicely planned out.   
  
Kay: And I have a surprise for whoever gives me an actual sugestion! Okay, well, depending on whether the idea is good or not, or if i use it, you might get a better or worse prize than what I would normally give...  
  
Shila: yes... and flames are always welcome!!!!  
  
Kay: ... why wouldn't they be?  
  
Song of the chappie: "Taking me Over" by Evanesence. I'm thinking of turning this into a song-fic featuring Takato and Ruki... erm, Rika. Just cause I've never done a song-fic, and I think that it would be good from both Takato's and Ruki's P.O.Vs... especially if Takato goes missing... :) 


	5. Back to the Undernet

Kay: lalala... ooooh, good Inu Yasha... :):):):):):):) *grins, staring off into space*  
  
Shila: *waves hand in front of Kay's face* well, she's out of it... that means I get the computer!  
  
Kay: *mumbling* evil Kikyou...  
  
Shila: *sweatdrops* well... ooh! right... Kay said that she was going to write a chappie just with Undernet Stuff in it... and since SHE *nods head back at Kay* is immobile, I get to write it! Yeah! *stops* wait... that means... I HAVE TO DO WORK!!!! NOOOO!!!!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
He looked dimly over the navis gathered in front of him. It was no surprise that they were all suspicious, but some were down right frightened. Of what, it was obvious- but, as they were currently the only ones to "escape" the wrath of the evil Navi, they were holding a council, trying to figure out what to do about him. As it was, there were quite a few suspicions flying around, like, "the Offical NetBattling Society, or the Government, or the NetBattlers, or the Net Agents must have sent him here to get rid of us!". There were a few others which he liked, but none of them were anywhere near the truth.   
  
"What do you think, um... what was your name again?" Asked a dark-green Navi. He had forgotten all the names of the navis among him, they were all useless, and soon to just be power sources.  
  
"My name... you can call me Guinto."  
  
Everyone in the room blinked. Then he realized that mostly everyone's name ended with a 'Man'. So...  
  
"Guinto... Man. Alright?"  
  
"Alright... now, what do you think?"  
  
He pretended to think it over for a moment, before responding, "...we need a leader. Someone who is careful enough not to get caught, but someone who can handle themselves well in battle... and we need to get more Navis on our side, maybe a few spies in the Cyber Matrix..."  
  
The others sitting with him did think that over, before responding with a chorus of, "sure!" and "that's alright." and "as long as it's not me...". He knew that no one would want to be the leader, since everyone had the idea of "survival" etched in their minds.   
  
The Navi who had addressed him, who also looked up to him, turned to the group of navis, and asked, "who wants Guinto Man to be our leader?"  
  
Once again, "sure!"s, "I do!"s and other forms and words of acceptance filled the small area where they were sitting.  
  
He could only smile.   
  
The other navi turned back to him, and asked, "so... what should we do first?"  
  
He pretented to be thinking again, before saying, "we need a defensive team. And an offensive one. We need to be able to attack our opponents with stealth and power, and we also need to be able to defend ourselves from our enemies. To do that, we'd need a place for us to stay as we defend, and we need..."  
  
He continued the list, before stating simply, "and that's all. Now, I don't know your strengths, but I want a quarter of you on offence, and the rest of you on defense. Most of those on defense should start finding a place to be our safe haven. I will... over-see the work. Now, let's move!" He finished the sentence with such a commanding tone that all the other navis jumped to their feet, and started making their way around, doing whatever needed to be done.   
  
However, he pulled his little, "follower" behind a wall that just so happened to be there.  
  
"What is your name again?" He asked the other navi, letting a hint of malice tint his voice.  
  
"N- Night- Nightman, s-sir.."  
  
He looked thoughtfully at Nightman for a moment. This navi was obviously afraid of him, but was a born leader, and could keep the other navis working.  
  
"Nightman..." he started slowly, "how would you like to be my second in comand?"  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The shadows... that's all that Roll knew now. She dimly remembered all the times she spent in the net, and in much more clarity Lan, Mayl, and Megaman than the rest. She could almsot feel Megaman's arms wrapping tightly around her, Mayl's voice helping her, giving her directions, Lan's voice in the background, cheering them on...  
  
Roll sighed. She wanted so much to be able to reach out and actually touch Mayl. It seemed so surreal... and then this whole fiasco, starting with that weird portal... it made Roll want, no, need, to be able to have contact with her Net-op more than ever. However, her scence of reality hit suddenly, and she realized that the closest she was probably going to get to be able to see Mayl, not just "see" was watching her through the PET.   
  
So, now knowing that she could never do what she wanted, she had taken comfort in Megaman's presence. He seemed to be more in contact with the Real World than any other navi that Roll had ever known. And she had slowly came to almost depened on that presence- his calm, enduring, caring personne normally, and his personne in the battle feild.   
  
And now, Roll didn't have anyone. She was trapped in shadows and fog, waiting for her body to once again become stabilized. She couldn't be comforted by Mayl's, and even Lan's voice, by Megaman's personalite (and arms), or even her friend's jokes, and messing around. She was, without a doubt, as alone in the world as she would ever be.  
  
"Oh, sure, THAT was SMART!!!!!! You just let him walk right up, and mess with the programming..."  
  
"It's not MY fault!!!!! I'm stuck here, just like you, in case you haven't noticed!"  
  
Okay, maybe not THAT alone. Roll had completely forgotten about the two entities, as they liked being refered to, that were also currently spending time in the fog. Also known, as Roll found out from one of the entities, as stasis. This was their... millionth argument, and Roll was sure that she wasn't exagerating when she gave that number. They constantly argued, about things that Roll could only imagine... especially, what seemed to be their favorite argument, something called "Base Gate" and "Yggdrasil". However, another argument had taken up most of their time lately... something to do with programming.  
  
"You make it sound like this is a prision! We volunteered to go here, remember? And an electrical shock wouldn't have hurt us! Only him!"  
  
"Only hinder, you mean! You really think that a SHOCK would have worked? They only way to have stopped him with a shock would be to re-route all the electricity in a 50 mile radius!"  
  
"... I thought is was kilometer..."  
  
"Oh, come on... if this is all too work, we can't shut down any part of the net! NOTHING can give away our location!"  
  
"I KNOW that already! I helped come up with this plan!"  
  
"Ummm... what are you arguing about?"  
  
Both shadows turned towards Roll. She had begun to find slight differences in the shadows, and by now could say with certainty that they were both female, wearing some kind of armor that looked like dresses, and did not look like any Navis that she knew. They looked more like humans to Roll, but... it was impossible for a human to get into the net... wasn't it?  
  
The first shadow, the one that Roll particuarily liked, with the silky voice, told her calmly, "nothing dear. Nothing at all. We're just having another argument."  
  
Roll nodded her head. "But... you're had this certain argument a lot lately. What's going on?"  
  
She could tell that they looked at each other for a few moments, before Voice 1 (see chappie 3) hissed to the other, "We can't tell her... it... wouldn't be... right."  
  
Voice 2 sighed and shook her head. "The whole idea of right and wrong went out the window a long time ago. Besides- it's time she knew the truth."  
  
A gasp. "You... no, you wouldn't... but... please say you don't mean everything?!"  
  
Voice 2 remarked in a synical way, "what else could I mean? Like you said, she deserves to know."  
  
Voice 1's shadow form slumped, and Voice 2's shadow moved forwards, towards Roll. "Well... I guess that everything means... everything. First off, my name is Tajin, and my companion over there is Zednane. And you are Roll."  
  
"Yes... so... what is going on?"  
  
Tajin shook her head. "It wouldn't be kind to tell you the absolute truth, with all the gory details, so I'll tone it down a bit, shall I?"  
  
Roll nodded her head.   
  
"Well... when the Cyber Matrix was created, different levels of the net appeared, to hold, store, and use different parts of data with different classifications. The undernet was no exception. At first it started off as just a regular, everyday part of the net, that had limited ascesibility. It was the original storage place for files that were too important to be deleted, but were also not important enough, or too dangerous, to be on the normal parts of the net. Because of all the many... bad files around here, some Navis that were themselves considered 'bad' found refuge. So, the undernet grew to become known as the typical hide-away for evil, a danger to everything in existance, and, needless to say, another part of the net was created for those files that just could not be deleted, which has absolutely NO access from everywhere else on the net.  
  
"As the rest of the net evolved, so did the undernet. Different viruses started showing up, but there was one type of program that everything feared- and everyone still does. They're called Grendas. They search and destroy anything and everything... that is on their task. You see, Grendas can be given something call a task. If you have certain qualities, which no one has had yet, you can apparently control them. The one, as there can be only one, who can control them gives them a list of keywords or names. These are what they seek and destroy. They are greatly feared, and are the worst thing to run into, mainly because you don't know how they look- they can take on any form they wish to complete their task.  
  
"That is why we are so worried about Him. Because of the Grendas ferocity, and ability to create destruction and chaos so easily, we think that He is either in the form of a Grenda, or has made some kind of pact with them. We've battled Him a number of times, as we've already said- however, Zednane and myself have never had a chance to fight Him. That honour has always gone to others... who have nothing to do with us right now, so we have no need to talk about it, or, more percisely, them." A sigh was heard from Zednane's direction- apparently she was relieved about something. "But, back to what is going on."  
  
Tajin was about to continue when both she and Zednane stopped where they were, almsot as if they were frozen.  
  
"Um... Tajin? Zednane? What's wrong?"  
  
Not paying attention to Roll's questions, they turned to look at one another.  
  
"This is going to make things a lot more difficult..."  
  
"...especially since there's no one else here that could help...they're bound by..." Tajin cut herself off, glancing at Roll before continuing.  
  
"We must stay here. Protect Roll. Two from each, remember? Since Navi and human counts as one, if we loose even one of them..."  
  
Zednane sighed. "Just once I would like to be able to get a good shot in at Him. They last time was so long ago, I can't even remember it..."  
  
Both Tajin and Zednane turned back to Roll, who was looking at them curriously.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Roll... when your body completes it's transformation, you may or may not remember this... and we will no longer be able to contact you. So please, listen."  
  
Roll nodded silently.   
  
"Hidden within the Undernet is something called Base Gate. Remember we used to... talk... a lot about it before?" Another silent nod. "As soon as you are released from this... prison, I guess it is to you, you MUST set out as soon as possible, and find the Gate. It can be moved, but to do so, it must be stored in your data- merged with yourself, in a way. It is the connection between everything- not only between dimensions, but also worlds. It is the basis of conciousness, and it can affect everything. It is rumoured that it connects to where all life started, and where all life goes when the body dies.   
  
"It could let you pass to the Real World here, out of the Cyber Matrix. It could let you speak telepathically to anyone, and all that you would have to do was to enter it once. You are having a great honour being bestowed upon you- you will be the permanent guardian of the Base Gate here. You will be able to decide who enters this dimension, and who leaves it. It is a very important role, and one that will give you great power."  
  
Roll looked at Tajin, and then let her eyes travel over Tajin's shoulder to Zednane. Both entities were looking at her, wondering what she would say.  
  
"Well, that's nice and all, but there's one little problem- I'M STUCK HERE!"  
  
Both Tajin and Zednane sweatdropped. "Well, yes, but... we have a feeling that He is actually going to help speed up the process- he's been diverting and taking energy from other Navis around him, without their knowing, and redirecting it here. It should be finished within two days."  
  
That confussed Roll. "But... if I had that much power... wouldn't He want me dead, not becoming more powerful?"  
  
"Have we told you... what happened, a couple hours ago?" Tajin asked, nervously.  
  
"No... why?"  
  
Tajin sighed, while Zednane just slumped her shoulders before saying, "You see... He... messed with your programming, Roll. When you awake... well, He..."  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
Tajin took over. "Roll... when you awake, you will be one of, if not THE most powerful Navi around right now. He changed the programming so that the first Navi to... do something will win your favour, no matter who they are. And you won't be able to help yourself- you'll become loyal to that Navi until either they or you are deleted."  
  
Roll was stunned. "But... willl I remember?"  
  
Tajin and Zednane looked at each other, just as another beam of light came out of nowhere and hit Roll. "We're... not sure..." she heard them faintly whisper before her exhausted mind finally conked out.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Tialsia shuddered.   
  
'I did SO not want to go here now... stupid guard duties...'  
  
She wound through the decimated ex-streets of the Undernet, careful to look out for roaming pieces of data that could possibly fry her program. There was hardly anything left, she noted- everything that had once been there was now complete rubble, and not a single navi or program could be found anywhere.  
  
It didn't take her long to reach a completly barren place- nothing was there, except for a small mound in the distance.   
  
'God, I hope that's the place. And as soon as someone comes, I'm so outta here. I point-blank refuse to stay in a place where He supposedly is.'  
  
Making her way over to the mound, she also saw what must have been other buildings there, now nothing more than old memories. Obviously, since the Undernet was now off-limits, no one would be repairing it. And that was fine with her. 'Of course, it will really only be fine when He gets his ass kicked from here to... oh, I dunno, the Apex? Or maybe somewhere else... can't say hell, don't wanna say kingdom-come... oooh, I'm here. Now where's the door?"  
  
After searching around for a bit, and quite a few curses as well was many "it HAS to be around here somewhere!"s, the red, gold and white navi eventually found a sliding pannel that had been welded shut- although she though it was probably by the extreme heat that had destroyed everything else.  
  
A bit of persuasion, and it opened quite easily.   
  
She waited for the air from the inside of the dome to be replaced by fresh air from the outside. Then she realized that this was the Cyber Matrix, more precisely the Undernet, there WAS no air, and besides- the dome couldn't have been sealed up for more than 2 or 3 days. How bad could the air possibly get?  
  
"Oh yes, I'm so smart... now if only there was a light on in there..."  
  
She entered the dome carefully, not wanting to step on anything or anyone that might still be in there. But, as luck woudl have it, Tialsia just happened to step onto the ONE security plate that was so small that it would have been almost impossible to step on otherwise.  
  
The door behind her snapped shut quickly, sealing off the only exit. The lights suddenly turned on, revealing to her a strange-looking pod with some one inside it... however, the lights were coming from a portal that immediately sent her right back to just outside ACDC square. She cursed, but said no more, as some other Navis decided at that moment to walk by.  
  
She needed to get back to that dome... but having used all of her energy for one day, turned around, and walked away to a nice secluded place near the Hall where she could sit by herself and no one would bother her as she recharged her energy.   
  
Tomorrow was going to be anothing long day.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kay: hehe! I actually got up off my ass and started writing this again! WOO-HOO!   
  
Shila: *huffs after climbing back in the window* ignore the insane, sugar-high person over there. She recently listened to The Arrogant Worms' CD "Dirt" that her friend lent her, and now it is Kay's goal in life to find that CD, if only for the Sponge Song.  
  
Kay: Sponges! Sponges and Tuna and Bubbles... and Neptune from "Finding Nemo" likes the bubbles, and I can only say "mine" on Monday because of a dare, and Jacqui has to be over protective of everything, and she likes Rurouni Kenshin too, and me and Laila have made a new website and it's (our our official motto, too) is "__________ doesn't matter, as long as (I/We/You) have Kenshin" and-  
  
Shila: and you can be quiet! *Kay shuts up* thank you. Now, onto the.. two... or three reviews that we got?  
  
Kay: um... as the internet isn't really working, we cannot do the reviews for this chap... actually, I think it's just my story that's not working, but... SAME DIFFERENCE! Okay, I'm done. Well, see ya next time!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Next Chapter: The army of Undernet Navis gets a new name, and begins Guinto's plans. Megaman finds out a bit more about Tialsia, and her net-op. Tialsia gets introduced to the rest of the group. Yai runs into the strange girl (aka Deian) again at a beauty salon with Mayl. Dex decides to ask Mayl on a date, and... WE ACTUALLY RESPOND TO REVIEWS! YEAH!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Song of chappie: erm... "sit" from Inu Yasha OST... at least, I THINK it's on the OST... oh well... XD 


	6. Revealing of the Queen

**----------------------------------------------------{I}Begin Log{I}------------------------------------------------------------  
**  
We're- WAH! (dodges random objects being thrown at her) HEY! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!  
  
**Shila:** here's an idea: you haven't updated this story in I have no idea how long. Would that be it?  
  
**Kay**: (sweatdrops) yeah, that could do it. Sorry for yelling at you, and talking my time updating!  
  
**Shila:** Anyways... hey, you know what we forgot to ask?  
  
**Kay**: you mean me, lazy bum. What?  
  
**Shila**: If they're going to be targeting this section soon.  
  
**Kay**: (groans) Shila, one word with a hyphen: e-mail.  
  
**Shila:** trutru.  
  
**Kay**: Anyways, sorry again, evil writers block is extremly annoying. So... what shall I write about now...?  
  
**Shila:** you're still not over your writer's block, are you?  
  
**Kay**: Nope! And camp, and the cottage, and all the weddings and birthdays have served as great distractions! I like distractions...  
  
**Shila:** ...you sound like Kuumei from EverWander.  
  
**Kay**: really? Too bad I don't look like her, though...  
  
**Shila:** I know. Having to look at your face is hurti-  
  
**Kay**: Thats it! (shoves Shila out the door) Have fun with your multi-purpose thingy! See ya in September! AND DON'T COME BACK! Now... on with the story!  
  
**------------------------------------------------------{I}Story Starts{I}---------------------------------------------------  
**  
**Secrets of the Undernet  
  
Chapter 6 (I think): Revealing of the Queen  
  
---------------------------------------------------{I}Curtain Opens{I}-------------------------------------------------------  
**  
Megaman sat on the floor in the hall, in the ACDC 1 section, trying to concentrate on looking up information. Infront of him were files. And, of all things, of the Undernet. He had decided to look at these, just in case there was something in here. He had reached the section about viruses that were unstopable and shape-shifters, when he had felt that he would prefer to not continue reading- the thought of Roll in the Undernet, from what he had read so far, was not a pleasant one.  
  
Groaning, he let his head rest against the stack of files behind him on their shelves.  
  
"Hello, Mega!"  
  
He refused to open his eyes, knowing full well what would happen if he did. Quersoæn would be standing over him, her face close to his, and he would jump, startled, even if he already knew it would happen.  
  
"Hello, Quersoæn."  
  
He felt her sit down next to him. "What's wrong? Are you sad? Tired? Maybe you need to go recharge... you've been at this since morning. All these Navis have agreed to help us- look at how many there are! Since last night, a lot more people and Navis have known about Roll disappearing. A lot more! ...I just wish that Tialsia were here..."  
  
Megaman looked at her, startled. "You know Tialsia?!"  
  
Quersoæn shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I met her yesterday. I was sitting here, just like this, only a few floors down, and I started singing a song, and a didn't know what a word meant, and she told me, and me and her and Risuko talked about it for a bit... and then she said that she had to go, so we said bye, and she left."  
  
Megaman sighed. "That was before I met her. I had been hoping that she might have been here..."  
  
Quersoæn looked at Mega, a thought entering her mind. "You seem to know a lot of female Navis."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So... did you ever think about... doing what humans do?"  
  
Megaman looked at her, unsure of his position. "What? You mean boyfriend/girlfriend kind of thing?"  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
Megaman snorted. "Not really... and besides, even if I did, there's only one Navi that I would think of..."  
  
"And that is..."  
  
"...only girls talk about this."  
  
"I'm a girl!"  
  
"And I'm not. Can we drop the subject?"  
  
Quersoæn sat looking at him as he went back to scanning through the data on the Undernet. He wanted to properly cover ever base. Although it might have seemed that it would be easier for him to actually physically go looking, he wanted to find possible areas and their dangers first. Protoman was more of a go-get-'em kind of Navi, as well as Gustsman, Iceman, Glyde... pretty much every Navi wanted to field work first, research later. So Megaman, Quersoæn, and barely five other Navis stayed behind, doing what research and looking they could.  
  
Quersoæn eventually got up to look for something on the lower floors, as she started down them. She stopped suddenly, remembering what Tialsia had said. "Which I was... too dead to cry... the self affliction fades... stones to throw at my creator... the masochist to which I cater..."  
  
Megaman looked up at her, listening to what Quersoæn was singing. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, and looked at the state he was in. Megaman's energy levels weren't very high- he needed recharging, and badly. If a virus attacked... she shook her head, trying to get rid of the images. When she looked again, she saw Protoman and the others who had gone on field duty standing at the next landing, looking at her strangely.  
  
"What?"  
  
"What did you just sing?" Protoman asked, wondering. The words had struck a cord in him, and it seemed like he wanted to know as much about those words as possible.  
  
Quersoæn just shrugged. "Something I learned when I was young. Now, are you all here to do a bit more research? We need all the help we can get."  
  
As she proceeded down the stairs, the gang at the bottom let her by, before continuing up to where Megaman was. At the sight of him, and his energy readings, they realized that she was right- Megaman was obviously getting exhausted.  
  
"Megaman? I say... what are doing?" Glyde question, worry crossing his face.  
  
"He's wearing himself out, Guts!" Gutsman replied, moving over to the blue bomber.  
  
"Captain Obvious does it again..." Came a weary voice from behind them.  
  
Dex's face appeared in a communication window beside Gutsman. "Hey! Who just said that?!"  
  
"Me. Now, can I get through? Warping is extremly tiring, and I would like a rest, thank you very much!"  
  
The Navis moved away to see Quersoæn, obviously trying to hold in her laughter, walking beside a red, yellow, white, silver and gold Navi. Megaman recognized the new Navi, and welcomed her from his spot on the floor.  
  
"Tialsia! How've you been?"  
  
"Since yesterday? Well... let's just say that I don't want to do anything other than read and talk for the rest of today." She plopped down beside Megaman, Quersoæn following. Protoman looked at the three, Megaman in the middle, the other two surrounding him.  
  
"Erm, Tialsia..."  
  
"Yes, Protoman?"  
  
The red Navi looked thouroughly nervous. "Er... thank you for your help yesterday."  
  
She grinned. "You're welcome. And Gutsman- sorry for the comments. I become sarcastic when I'm tired."  
  
"It's okay, Guts, as long as you not mean it!"  
  
She stretched out, and looked at the file that Megaman was holding. Having given up on reading about the Undernet, he had started reading his own file, trying to look like he was doing something. Tialsia grasped the file about the Undernet.  
  
"You mind if I read this?"  
  
Megaman looked at the file. "Sure. It's too depressing, if Roll did get stuck in the Undernet..."  
  
Tialsia sighed, and looked at the other Navis standing around. "Well? Are you going to just stand there, or do some work?"  
  
Most of the Navis turned around, and headed down the stairs for more field work. Protoman, Gutsman, Iceman and Glyde stayed back, and began looking through files as well. Quersoæn headed down the stairs for where ever she had originally been going, and Tialsia and Megaman settled back against their stack of files for some research. And, as luck would have it, a thought-conversation.  
  
_'Hub?'  
_  
He glanced at her, but then looked back at his file. Letting his vision loose focus, he concentrated instead on the thoughts inside his head.  
  
_'Yes, Tialsia?'  
_  
_'Call me Te when we're talking like this.'  
  
'Okay... Te... what's up?'  
  
'Har har. I need to talk to your dad.'  
  
'Why?'  
  
'Nothing for you to worry about...'  
  
'Well, it is my dad...'  
  
'I need to know more about the Navi project.'  
  
'You could just ask me. Or Glyde, or Protoman, or-'  
  
'Not normal Navis, smart one. You. The way you were created was dubbed the Navi Project. I guess so that to outsiders it looked just like they were creating a normal Navi, with special powers...'  
  
'..you make me sound like some magician or something.'  
  
'Nope. You're just a half and half- a hybrid, I guess.'  
  
'Hybrid, huh? Are there any others?'  
  
'What kind?'  
  
'What?'  
  
'You mena human-Navi?'  
  
'Well, yeah... are there any others?'  
_  
He heard her mentally laugh. _'Well... er... nevermind. I just found the way you asked that funny.'  
  
'So, why do you need to know more about... well, me?'  
  
'Because I know enough that I'm interested in the whole thing, but I don't know everything. I'm sketchy on the details, and it's extremely annoying.'  
  
'Just like me trying to figure you out?'  
_  
She glanced at him from her files, and he swore he heard her growl. He barely suppressed a laugh, turning it into a cough.  
  
_'Fine. I'll tell you a bit about me, if you tell your dad that I would like to talk to him. Deal?'  
  
'Hmm... You tell first, just so that I know something about you.'  
_  
She sighed, and Protoman looked at the two strangely. He had noticed that Megaman had been staring at the same page, the same place, for a while, and his eyes were distant. He had also caught the small movements that they made, reactions to something that he didn't know. He continued to do exactly what Megaman was doing- pretending to read a file, while concentrating on something else. That something else being the two Navis by the shelves on the floor.  
  
Tialsia, of course, knew this, and grinned. _'You know, I think that Protoman might be catching on.'  
_  
Megaman was about to turn around, but Tialsia stopped him. _'No, Hub. Don't pay any attention. It will only make him more suspicious.'  
_  
He glanced at her. _'It's so weird...'  
  
'What is?'  
  
'I haven't been called "Hub" for so long. Even Papa and Mama have taken to calling me 'Megaman', although I understand why. Lan still doesn't know, and he should be the first.'  
  
'True. It was a fluke that I know about you, and that I even met you.'  
  
'I think I've been hanging artound Risuko too much, but I can tell you're lying.'  
  
'Darn it. Okay, they weren't flukes- it's part of my job to know that.'  
  
'Your... job? How would knowing about me be part of your job?'  
  
'Because... because, please don't tell anyone this, but...'  
  
'But...'  
  
'My net-op, Faedelle, and myself... we were assigned to look out for you and Lan, and even Mayl and Roll. Which we didn't do.'  
  
'How long have you been here?'  
  
'A little over a day now.'  
  
'That would be why. Roll went missing more than a day ago.'  
  
'I guess...'  
  
'So... anything else I should know about you?'  
  
'Well... there's the fact that I'm like you...'  
  
'You're... a hybrid?!'  
_  
"Megaman..."  
  
He looked at her, surprised that she had spoken out loud. "Yeah?"  
  
"Do you mind reading your own file?"  
  
He blushed, and nodded. "Sure..."  
  
As soon as he had started reading again, Tialsia made a quick copy of something she had found interesting- the Wastes, as they were called, were, for some reason, listed in the Undernet file. She had an idea why, and decided to further persure it.  
  
_'Hub, I'm going to have a quick recharge-just enough for me to get around without collapsing- and I'm going to check out something.'  
  
'In the Undernet?'  
  
'No, but it's related. Can you please talk to your dad before I get back? I should be gone till tonight, a day at the latest.'  
_  
He looked sceptical, but nodded his head. _'Alright. Have fun!'  
  
'Oh yeah... fun... I'm going to need major work on my system after this...'_  
  
Megaman watched her leave, then stood up, with his file, and walked over to where it went. He flipped through quickly to near the begining, and made a quick copy of something- to be more specific, some detail that, he felt, made it a little too obvious about his heritage. He didn't realise that Protoman was still watching him.  
  
**-----------------------------------------------------{I}Tialsia{I}------------------------------------------------------  
**  
Tialsia proceeded down the stairs, using a 'Full Energy' sub chip to replenish her strength. She paused at a dealer, and bouth another six, as well as some 'Mini Energy' sub chips.  
  
She continued down the stairs, until she got to the bottom, where she found Risuko waiting. She grinned.  
  
"I guess you over- thought myself and Hub's convo, eh?"  
  
He looked at her with emotionless eyes.  
  
"Yes. I do not think you should go to the Wastes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You won't find anything to do with Roll there."  
  
"I know. But I though I might find something to do with the Navi Project. Or other usefull tidbits of info."  
  
"...you should be careful then."  
  
"I know that." She told him, exasperated. She looked around them once- all the Navis that she could sense on this floor were busy doing whatever they were doing. She lowered her voice to a whisper anyways. "Please, Risuko... watch out for Hub. Proto's catching on, and I don't want him to feel alienated. I think that something in the future is going to do that for him."  
  
Risuko nodded. "I feel you are right. Good luck finding the information you're looking for. And, if you see anything that might be good for some of the files here, then please copy it. I will look out for him- for both of the twins, and the other one. You look out for yourself, and Roll."  
  
She snorted. "As if I could do anything else, with Fae breathing down my neck." Seeing his puzzled looked, she hurriedly explained, "figuratively speaking, of course."  
  
He nodded, and motioned her to the door. Taking that as a sign to leave, she made her way to it, while calling back in a whisper, "and PLEASE don't eaves-drop on us again?"  
  
"Of course. Safe travels!"  
  
"And kami-sama protect you and the Hall!" She called back as she exited the Hall.  
  
Risuko, still serious, looked up to the many floors above where Megaman was slowly decending. Risuko intercepted him on the bottom floor.  
  
"Megaman... I have a message."  
  
He looked at Risuko. It was painfully obvious that his energy levels were at their lowest. "Yeah, Risuko?"  
  
The bigger navi gave Mega a banner. "Put this on your home page. It will link straight to here. I am to keep an eye on you until she gets back, and I cannot do so if you are outside the Hall."  
  
Megaman sighed. As much as he wanted to look for Roll, he knew that he couldn't do much no matter what, and that Risuko and Tialsia had the best intentions. Having him hurt would not do. And, it seemed like he got enough exercise walking up and down the stairs, and blasting the viruses outside, based on his energy levels. He nodded. "Alright. But, if Lan wants me to do something, I will have to leave."  
  
"Then it will be fine. You will have your br- Net-op to look after you."  
  
Megaman was, by now, used to Risuko having to switch over from what he was going to say to what she should say. However, there was something still bugging him. "Risuko, in my file... this part here... I'm not sure if I'm completely comfortable with what it implies..."  
  
Riskuo looked it over. "But... it is the truth."  
  
Megaman nodded. "Yes, but it... makes me uncomfortable. Someone might find out about my heritage..." Risuko noted how Megaman whispered the last part, while looking around nervously.  
  
"I will make it less obvious, for you. Still the truth, but more... faded."  
  
Megaman nodded again. "Thank you, Risuko."  
  
And, with that, Megaman logged out to recharge.  
  
**----------------------------------------------------{I}Protoman{I}---------------------------------------------------------**  
  
Protoman was agitated. Chaud was in Electopia on a business trip which had come up quite suddenly, and he had been on self-appointed field duty. Having been left behind was not good for Protoman. He could take care of himself, easily, but what about Chaud...?  
  
The one good thing was that they could talk in private, without anyone else knowing. And talking they were.  
  
"Protoman, are you sure?"  
  
"I am, sir. Tialsia and Megaman are keeping something from us. It's like they have a special language, that only they know and can communicate in."  
  
Chaud thought this over. "So... if that's so, why are you reading Megaman's file?"  
  
Oh yes, Protoman was doing that. As soon as Megaman had left, he had grabbed the blue bomber's file, and started to look for what Megaman had seemes so worried about. It didn't take long until he found it, and read it aloud to Chaud.  
  
"_'Origins: Not much is known on Megaman's heritage. Being a Scilab Navi, they would normally keep information on him, like any other Scilab Navi, a secret. However, it seems that extra precautions have been taken to keep any information on him a complete secret. Apparently, though, the construction of Megaman took a total of nearly three years. The other six were spent monitoring his stability, right until he was presented to one Lan Hikari, his first and current Net-op. Scilab still refuses to say anything, but it seems that the newer members, who have been there for six years or less, know nothing of Megaman's origins. Rumours, though, have sprung up that the head Doctor who created Megaman, Yuuchihiro Hikari, has strange ties to the Navi, as does all his family. This comes as nothing surprising- Yuuchihiro's father, Light Hikari, was deeply invloved with his work, and was rumoured to have given his very life to it. Of course, these are all rumours, so they are not to be taken at face value. The only clue that Scilab has given to Megaman's origins was a single phrase, that could easily be found on most collages: Houing Unit Building, and the word 'Obituaries'. However, they were the first and last clues to be given..._' Sir, this is a very strange section."  
  
Chaud was silent. The vagueness of the section was astounding. In nearly every single other Navi's files, the Origins, including the process with which the Navi was made. Even Protoman's, although it was highly guarded by security codes, and only who Chaud and Protoman said alright to could see it.  
  
"Protoman, what I can't figure out is why they would be so sketchy on the details, and yet leave the file open for anyone to read it."  
  
"Sir... maybe it's just to make Megaman look like a normal, everyday Navi, and the sketchy-ness is just incase someone, like... us, for example, reads it."  
  
Chaud sighed, frustrated. "But the question is, why would they not want his origins to be found out? And why wouldn't he be a normal, everyday Navi?"  
  
"Sir, Scilab has always keep the basic data on all their inside, custom-made Navis secret. And maybe it's because he has an Ultimate Program."  
  
"Bass had an Ultimate Program, and any one can access the file about him and his origins easily. Even the lowest-ranked Netbattler, if they made it to here."  
  
Both were silent for a time. Protoman looked quickly over the rest of the data in the file. "Sir... the origins section is the only thing that is vague. Everything else is clear, obvious, just like a low-rated Navi would be. The amount information is amazing- it's baisically every single movement, comment, battle. Everything is done in great detail..."  
  
"To take our minds off the origins section?"  
  
"More than likely, sir."  
  
Both were silent again. Coming to a decision, Chaud ordered Protoman, "Make a copy of the Origins section, and a copy of the most detailed page in there. Then put the file back exactly how you found it. I'm coming back to ACDC today- I think we need to take a little visit to Scilab."  
  
Protoman nodded, and did as he was bid. As soon as he was done, he quickly left the Hall, heading back for his hp- the servants needed to be notified of Chaud's arrival immediately.  
  
Meanwhile, behind a stack of files, Quersoæn, Iceman, Gutsman and Glyde hid, listening in on what Chaud and Protoman were saying. All four were filled with a strange curriosity- the exact same one that Protoman, Chaud, and even Tialsia were filled with- although Tialsia had a head-start on all the others. They made it their mission to find out about Megaman's origins, which he always, they noticed, kept so secret. And, they all pledged then to find out about it by the time they found Roll.  
  
**----------------------------------------{I}Risuko{I}---------------------------------------**  
  
After most of the Navis had left, Risuko made his way up to ACDC 1, where Megaman's files were. He changed the section on origins in the public folder, and added the data which he took out to the back of the private one. The private folder, cunningly hidden within the public one, had every single step of the process of the creation of Megaman- including all the information about Hub, and his remarkable transformation from a simple human child with a deadly disease, into one of the most powerful Navis to ever exist.  
  
Risuko sighed. Keeping the information on Megaman's origins hidden was becoming a chore. He knew, of course, that it would all come out one day soon- by the looks of things, that was inevitable. He just wished that, when it did come out, it would only be Lan and Hub's inner circle of friends finding out. But, based on the many Navis now participating in the 'Search for Roll', that was not likely to happen. They all joined, mainly because they were in awe of the blue bomber, and any information that they could find out about him would be worth more than his privacy to them.  
  
Making his way down the stairs, he looked out one of the 'windows' to the Cyber Matrix, where he could sense Tialsia. He prayed that she and her Net-op would stop distancing themselves from the large body of members of Yggdrasil who were to work with them in keeping the four chosen here safe. He was one himself, and, decidedly, would have to listen to their wishes- being the primary leaders of the 'Protect the Chosen' opperation, as they had dubbed it, they had more authority then anyone else who worked for Yggdrasil in the Cyber Matrix, and outside of it, even if they didn't act like it.  
  
He gave a sigh, as he watched the remaining one or two Net Navis left on the bottom floor. They were from the Undernet, that was obvious by their color scheme, and were frantically flipping through files about... well, Risuko couldn't figre out what. Infront of them, and scattered all over the floor were files from things ranging from viruses to travel destinations for Navis and human alike. He didn't understand their purpose for being there, but he was sure it was not good news for anyone. It never is when Undernet Navis take to reading first, asking questions later.  
  
He prayed to the heavens and Kami-sama that the Four Ladies would get things under control soon- he couldn't stand the feeling that things were not right with the world.  
  
**-----------------------------------------------{I}Lan and Mayl{I}--------------------------------------------**  
  
Both Lan and Mayl were tired. People whom they had never met before were coming up to them all day, asking if they had been getting anywhere with their search, or if they needed any more help, or giving them places to look. The field Navis had been nearly breaking their backs looking into all the different clues and tips that they recieved.  
  
They were relaxing in Lan's room in front of the computer, after having eaten a very good dinner by Lan's mom, Haruka, when Megaman got back. His energy levels were severly low, almost at nothing, and it looked like he had been through a war.  
  
"Megaman! Are you okay?!" Lan exclaimed, as he quickly used a 'Full Energy' sub chip, and got the recharger and re-builder programs ready.  
  
The navi in question groaned. "I feel like I was run over by a heard of Mettaurs. Which, essentially, I was..."  
  
Mayl giggled. Since Megaman was no longer in immediate danger, it sounded funny. "Couldn't you dodge the attacks?"  
  
"Attacks, yes. A huge wave of Mettaurs that seemed to appear out of nowhere? No." Was the response. Lan worked in silence, watching as slowly the reults came back from the scan he did.  
  
"Megaman... what's this data, here?"  
  
Megaman looked at the data that Lan had found. And immediately groaned. "That's just some data I copied from my file at the Hall. It's nothing- I was a bit confussed by what it meant, but it's all good, now."  
  
Lan nodded, and was about to delete it, sensing Megaman's uncomfortableness, when Mayl stopped him. "Megaman, can I take a look at it?"  
  
Megaman shifted uncomfortably, but, so that it didn't seem like a big deal nodded. A small window appeared on the screen, and Lan and Mayl looked over what it said.  
  
"...Megaman, what's with all the secrecy?" Lan asked. It was the first time that he knew of the all the mystery around his Navi. Mayl looked at Lan, surprised that he didn't know either.  
  
Megaman was still uncomfortable. He didn't want to talk about his past... as much as he trusted Lan and Mayl, he still wasn't sure if it would stay between them. He realized, however, that there was something more important that he needed to do.  
  
"Lan... is d... Dr. Hikari there?"  
  
Lan blinked. "Um... no, he's at work. Why?"  
  
"Because a friend of mine needs to talk to him about something called the Navi Project."  
  
"That was mentioned in the Origin thing!" Mayl exclaimed. After a quick look through, and saw that she was right, both Lan and Mayl rounded on Megaman.  
  
"Okay... you may be my Net Navi, but no more secrets!" Lan told him, and evil grin on his face. Megaman did not like the look, nor when he saw Mayl immitating Lan's expression to a T.  
  
_'Oh, come on Hub! Say that it's important, and that I have a... gift, for your dad....'  
_  
Megaman suddenly stiffened, hearing the voice. Recognizing it as Tialsia, he sat on the ground cross legged, closed his eyes, and concentrated on the voice.  
  
_'A gift?'  
_  
He heard a small chuckle. _'It's some data from your creation that was deemed unuseable, but helped set up some of your proticols. So, it's more a gift for you. There's a bit more here, so I'll look around a bit more. Do you mind if I hang around your homepage tonight?'  
  
'Why not? But you're staying in a corner.'  
  
'Gee, thanks for the hospitality...'  
  
'Te?'  
  
'Yeah Hub?'  
  
'Why not just go back to your own home page?'  
  
'Because it requires warping at least twice, and I'm too lazy to do that right now. Besdies- I don't have enough energy for twice. Once, yes, twice, no way in hell.'  
_  
Megaman tried to suppress a chuckle, but it easily broke through as he ended the conversation.  
  
Lan and Mayl had been watching Megaman the entire time. As he sat down, how a smile appeared on his face, and how he started laughing for no apparent reason. Lan was just going over the possible reasons, only coming up with 'Megaman's gone insane', when Mega opened his eyes. Both pre-teens were surprised by the net Navi's gaze- his eyes were unfocused, blank, and empty, like his soul wasn't even in his body... and then Lan and Mayl realized that talking about a 'soul' with a net Navi was pointless. But still...  
  
Megaman blinked twice, let his eyes refocus, and looked at Lan and Mayl. "Is it okay if my friend stays here tonight?" Megaman asked them, hoping that they would say yes, since he already said yes to Tialsia.  
  
Lan blinked. "Um... which friend is this? The one that wants to talk to dad?"  
  
Megaman nodded, not daring to say anything.  
  
Lan sighed. "Fine... erm... did you just remember that?"  
  
Without thinking, Megaman replied, quite openly, "No, she just told me."  
  
Lan realized that that was why Megaman had been acting weird, but Mayl found something wrong with what he said. "Megaman... you just said 'she'."  
  
"Well, Tialsia is a girl."  
  
Mayl narrowed her eyes. "What are your intentions with her, and, more importantly, Roll?!"  
  
Lan backed away from Mayl, and Megaman away from the window. "Wha...? What do you mean, 'my intentions'?! You sound like Quersoæn!"  
  
"Ha! Quersoæn, eh? I'll just talk to her if you don't talk to me right now!" Mayl told Mega, her voice dangerously low, and the evil look back in them.  
  
"Er... I just said that there's only one navi that I might want as a girlfriend, and that only girls talk about this kind of stuff!" Megaman had his hands infront of him, slowly backing away, as though holding off a predator. Which, for all intents and purposes, he was.  
  
"Really? And who would that be, hmm?"  
  
Megaman was sweating. This was NOT what he wanted to happen. What was it with girls? He gulped, realizing that when they find out he's half-human, they'll be after him constantly... he gulped, thinking of that, and, deciding that he wanted out of this, asap, he replied quickly, "Not Tialsia, or Quersoæn!"  
  
Mayl gave a sigh then, relenting. "I guess no straight answers right now, eh?"  
  
Megaman calmed his breathing, and slumped to the floor. Lan sighed, happy that Mayl wasn't about to go physco on Mega. Turning to the aforementioned navi, Lan told him, "We'll go see papa tomorrow. He's so busy with work now, he hasn't been coming home."  
  
Megaman nodded, then yawned. "See you in the morning Lan, Mayl."  
  
"Goodnight Megaman."  
  
"Goodnight Megaman. Sleep well."  
  
The blue bomber drifted off to sleep, and the computer shut itself down. Lan and Mayl sat there in the silence, the only light in the room from the window illuminating half of their faces, while the other half remained in shadow.  
  
Feeling like the silence was suffocating, Lan tried to make conversation. "So, Mayl..."  
  
"Yes Lan?"  
  
He listened to her voice, and it's gentle tones made him grin. There was just something about the way she talked... and, it seemed, only to him, that her voice only had the gentle tones and crystal notes whenever she talked to him- whether she was about to pound him for doing something stupid, or glomp him for doing something right.  
  
"Lan?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"...I thought you were going to say something to me?"  
  
"Nah... I just like hearing your voice."  
  
Mayl was surprised by his obviously honest answer. She had never known Lan to lie to her, and she was sure that he wasn't about to start now. Glancing over at him, she saw him laying back on the bed, propped up by his elbows, eyes closed.  
  
She grinned, thinking of something. "Lan..." she called, in a taunting voice.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
She let her body fall gently beside his, so that her head was right beside his own. Facing the ceiling, she asked him, "You like the sound of my voice?"  
  
"It's very beautiful... you'd make a good singer..."  
  
She grinned again. Turning her head so that it faced his own, she brought her face close to his own, and she whispered in his ear, all the while grinning evily, "you... really like it? Do you like me?"  
  
She could tell that he was extremely comfortable and relaxed. Without skipping a beat, or waiting to think about his answer, he replied quietly, "very... much..."  
  
Mayl grinned, and, an old song that she remembered learning when she was younger on her lips and tounge, she sang gently, _"In the land of Twilight, under the moon, we dance for the idiots. Ring around the roses, jump to the moon, we sing with the castanets..."_

She stopped to pause, and Lan opened his eyes a tiny bit. "Why'd you stop? It was so nice..."

She grinned at him, and, obliging to his unspoken wish, she continued.

_"I will sing for crescent moon, dancing with the castanets. As the end will come so soon, in the land of Twilight..."_

And with that, both feel asleep, side by side, without a care in the world and a calm, peaceful, baisically dreamless night ahead of them.

**-------------------------------------------------------{I}Tialsia{I}----------------------------------------------**  
  
"Aww! They're so sweet!" She looked on through a window she opened when she got to Megaman's hp about an hour after everyone had fallen asleep. She had seen Megaman curled up in a corner, and, not wanting to infringe on his privacy, she laid down in the opposite corner. 

Of course, only after pulling up a window to see where Lan and Mayl were. As it turns out, both were sleeping side by side, extremely close together, and their arms around each other. Tialsia was sure that wasn't how they had fallen asleep, but, nonetheless, thought it was extremely cute, and, as such, made no move to wake them up.

She gently touched a hidden pocket in her belt. She felt the data she had found in the Wastes compressed, organizied, and de-bugged, and now all nicely packeted, ready for Dr. Hikari. She would confront him about the Navi Project, get the information she still didn't have, and present the data to him- she knew full well that doing so infront of anyone else would be the worst possible thing, but Dr. Hikari had to know. She had, really, lied to Megaman. Although the data did have to do with him, and protocols, it was not his own. The data had been used in Base Gate, when it was first being designed, and had been accidentally recycled for Megaman's protocols- inadvertenly allowing him to use Base Gate. And since he already had the program in him, he was able to use the telepathy skill.

She grinned, thinking that everything was fine. She would present the data to Dr. Hikari, tell him about the Base Gate program, and ask for permission to train Megaman in the ways of Base Gate. She was sure the he would say yes- Base Gate was NOT something you wanted to mess around with. And then she'd talk to the whole Hikari family about Hub and Lan- including those two. Of course, Mayl and Roll would eventually find out, based on what she could see between the two humans. Protoman was a maybe, and the rest, even less of a chance. Then, she'd have to get them to meet Fae, and stop Fae from sneaking around. That disturbed Tialsia a bit. She was not used to her Net-op sneaking around, trying not to be seen- although, she could understand why. No one was supposed to know about Yggdrasil. And now that she acidentally let it out, well... let's just say that they would have to be super careful. The Hikari family, Mayl Sakurai and Her net Navi, Roll. Tialsia grinned as she let herself fall asleep. Being a hybrid sure was fun.

So lost in her thoughts, Tialsia didn't notice the tell-tale signs of the finishing hour of Stasis, and drifted off to sleep.

**---------------------------------------{I}Roll... erm, Eria.. erm.... STASIS!{I}------------------------------------------**

Roll sat around, chatting happily with Zednane and Tajin. Since they had told her... well, everything, she had decided to make the most of what little time she had left in Stasis, and try to make two friends for ever.

"Are you serrious?!" Roll asked, all the while laughing, as Tajin remembered a memory from before she met Roll.

"Perfectly. The funniest thing was, everyone was completely oblivious who it really was!"

Zednane started laughing. "And I thought that you NEVER did anything against the rules..."

"I bet that you've done something with the rules, at least once!" Tajin countered, and Zednane relented.

"Well, yeah, but-" one look at the looks on Roll's and Tajin's faces made Zednane groan, and give in. "Alright, alright." Roll and Tajin inched forward, waiting for Zednane's story. Smirking she indicated that they come closer, and, when they were pretty close together, she opened her mouth.

"Right now."

Roll sighed in exasperation, and moved away from Zednane again. She and Tajin had been sharing stories- Zednane held back, for no apparent reason. Tajin did the opposite of what Roll had just done.

"Is that so? Well then... let's see if you like-" Tajin stopped in mid- rant, and swung around to focus on something in the distance that Roll couldn't see. Zednane immitated Tajin, and Roll, straining her eyes, still couldn't see whatever had caught their attention. Suddenly, and quite randomly, both turned to Roll. Both had rather unemotional faces... until Tajin broke into tears and flung her arms around Roll's neck, glomping her. Zednane soon followed, only with much less tears, and was remarkably gentler. "Wha...? What is it?" Roll asked, trying to breath.  
Both other... well, whether they were humans or Navis or something else, they pulled away from Roll, both looking sadened.

"Roll... you're going to awaken in less than one hour." Tajin said slowly.

"54 minutes and 28 seconds, actually." Zednane filled in.

A quick glare at Zednane, and Tajin continued. "Roll... we need to try something, so that when you wake up, you might still remember us..."

Roll nodded, and, expectantly, closed her eyes. She heard Tajin and Zednane murmuring some strange words, one on her left and one on her right. She felt something building inside her, like when one becomes so happy that it's almost an over-boiling bubbly feeling. Then, just as it came, the feeling ended, and Roll opened her eyes, glancing at her two companions.

"Whew... well, that's done at least..." Zednane commented, before grinning at Roll, and giving her a Peace sign. "Alright on this end. How 'bout you, Tajin?"

Tajin grinned and also nodded. "Good to go here. Now, the most likely thing will be that everything until you black out here with half an hour to go will seem like just a dream. And you won't remember this, until a trigger lets you."

"Erm... trigger?"

Zednane gently cuffed Tajin, and addressed Roll. "Yeah... a triiger. It can be a cherished memory, person, place, thing... whatever it might be, it's guaranteed to appear at least three times to try to make you remember. Since it's you, I'd give it a good 50 odd times."

Tajin sighed. "It will probably only happen about four or five times, ten at most. Roll- we need to get going, so that we aren't trapped here when you awaken. But, please... remember what we said about Base Gate... and don't forget us Roll, please don't."

Roll embraced both women tightly. "I won't ever forget you. And thank you."

"For what?"

"Letting me not be bored these last few days." Roll replied with a laugh.

Also laughing, Tajin and Zednane slowly moved away slowly into the now-changing different colors of mist, and, with a last whispered "Goodbye, Aire..." they were gone forever from Roll's mind.

She sighed, sitting down. Now, to figure out the names quickly- anything to keep her busied for the last few moments. Roll was Roll, regardless of appearance. But, when she awakens, she would be Eria, right? Then who was Aire? Apparently herself as well. But when did she get that name? Shaking her head, Roll decided to just think of something else.

Hmm... she hadn't really thought about Megaman, Mayl, and the others all that much. So, she started going over what she would do and say when she saw them. Give everyone a hug- even Protoman. And, probably give Megaman a kiss... she was sure that he would be looking for her, as she hadn't exactly told anyone that she would going to the Undernet. It was accidental, after all. She would say hi to Mayl, and Lan, and spend the rest of the day talking with them- or, if it was late, Megaman. She sighed. All her thoughts returned to the blue bomber. Somehow, some way. It was really annoying, after the first twenty times. Still... thinking about him... seeing him in her mind's eye... it wasn't THAT bad... and, if she let her imagination get carried away.

Roll entered the last half hour of Stasis, where all was dark, dreaming of herself and Megaman, and, for some reason, the name 'Hub' kept appearing in her mind, and that's what she would call him. Grinning, she let herself fall into the dark unknown, where she had been many times in Stasis, for one, final time.  
  
**----------------------------------------------{I}Guinto and Nightman{I}----------------------------------------------**  
  
Nightman followed his leader, Guinto, through the refuse and scrap that was now the Undernet.

It was obvious that Guinto knew where he was going- which was good, because Nightman knew that it would be hard for him to find the way back by himself.

It had been nearly half an hour ago, just after a council meeting. Guinto had allowed only Nightman to just call him 'Guinto' or 'Guintoman'- the stronger Navi seemed to like everyone else calling him 'sir'. Not 'lord', or anything like that- just sir. Which didn't bother Nightman. Not at all. Especially not when he had to call Guinto by his name. But, what did bother Nightman was how their leader had seemed edgy, nervous, and unusually quiet. However, he stayed in the council room of their almost-built fort, which now resembled a palace, and participated in the usual decision making process. It was only after that Guinto pulled Nightman aside from the also usual training which followed a council meeting, and told the other navi to follow.

That was pretty much how they had ended up in this situation- tramping through wreakage, carnage, and left over data, towards... well, Nightman had no idea where. Somewhere, though.

"Nightman?"

He stood to attention, while still walking. "Yes, Guinto?"

He heard his leader chuckle. "Do you know where we are going?"

"No, I have to say I don't. Why do you ask?"

"Nightman, what I am about to show you must NOT be repeated to anyone, do you understand?"

"Yes."

There was a few more minutes of silence as Nightman followed Guinto unquestioningly. FInally, Guinto broke the silence.

"Do you know why I was edgy at the meeting?" "No, although I wish I did."

"It was becuase of this." Guinto gestured to the most decimated area in the Undernet, where only a few small rolling hills appeared to be.

"Erm... this waste?"

"No. Something that was hidden in this waste, which I found not too long before I met with you and the others at the fort."

Once again, silence reigned, as the two navis picked their way around some hills and over others, until they reached a particuairly small hill. "Guinto?"

"Yes?"

"Why are we here?"

"You shall see."

Guinto walked to what appeared to be just another piece of the hill, and gently ran his finger down it (A/N: think the way the Gringots' (sp?) goblin opened the vault with the stone in it in Harry Potter 1). Slowly, a whole section of the hill moved away, to reveal a small opening in the hill. Guinto moved inside, and motioned for Nightman to follow him.

Inside looked like one of the huge Scilab labs, where technology was developed. Computers, wires, screens, and tubes were all over the room, barely leaving enough room to walk.

However, it wasn't the flickering screens that caught Nightman's eye. He stood in stunned silence at what he saw before him.

A large pod stood in the middle of the room, facing them. Inside was a swirl of now multi-colored fog and mist, and every once in a while, he could just make out a figure inside it.

"Guinto... what...?"

"Nightman, this is a Stasis pod. They're extremely rare- I'm pretty sure that this is the only one accessible to Navis like us outside of Scilab- and I'm pretty sure that Scilab's is out of commission."

"A... Stasis pod? Never heard of it..."

"Stasis is a period where the body is preserved while the mind is allowed to rest, and the body rejeuvenates itself- or, in this case, while it changes forms."

"You mean... kinda like sleep?"

"No. Sleep is natural- Stasis is, even with the person's consent, forced upon the body by electrical impulses, causing the slowing of reaction time, heart rate, and everything else that keeps a person alive until they body is almost frozen."

"Like cyrogenics!"

"No. I said almost frozen, although it is pretty close. The body keeps funcitoning at the lowest pace, with the lowest amount of energy out-put possible, while still keeping the body alive. Those mists and fogs inside the chamber do all the work- they help her to rejeuvenate, provide energy, and, in this case, alter the body structure and color scheme."

"...you said her."

"Yes, I did. Because, this is a female Navi. Stasis can be used on either gender, though. Now, we wait. Her Stasis is amost over- barely five minutes to go, I believe."

And so, both Navis set to watching the pod, and the errie colored lighted that it radiated. They could tell that the Stasis was indeed ending- the fog and mist was slowly disappearing, until both Navis could get a good look at the one in the pod.

The main color scheme was obvious- mainly black, with white and grey hightlights. Her body suit was black as night, from her neck right down to her boots and gloves. Both boots and gloves were a pure white, with small grey sections. She wore what appeared to be layers- her black body suit, a grey vest-looking area, and what appeared to be a pure white skirt. She didn't have a helmet- it was more of a black and white band that went from her ear muffs around the back of her head, slightly curing upwards, where it reached a peak at the back, into which an opal- like section had been embeded. Her hair was perfectly straight, an almost white color, with streaks of faded red, blue, green, black and purple in it.

Her Navi symbol, on her chest and her ear muffs, was a line running right down, and another one at an angle, dividing the circle into two sets of even, opposite areas. The two smaller areas were white, while the bigger ones, black.

After waiting for a few more moments, Guinto and Nightman heard a hissing noise, and watched the pod lid slowly open. The Navi opened her eyes slowly, and blinked a few times, getting adjusted to the light. Her eyes were of an amazing color of green- and almost emerald color, mixed with what could almost be considered a forest green. Considering the lack of almost any color on her, except for the faint streaks in her hair, her ears were piercing, and gave off what seemed to be a light of their own. Sitting up slowly, she held her head in one hand, while the other supported her.

"Ugh... where am I?"

Guinto took this opportunity to stride forward. "My lady..."

"Lady?" Nightman whispered, unsure of what Guinto was saying.

"...let me help you up..."

She turned her gaze on the Navi, and Guinto gave an obvious flinch. "I do not need help from you. What I would like is someone to tell me where I am, immediately!"

Guinto, still in shock from being reprimanded, stayed quiet, and Nightman decided to come to the rescue. "My lady..." he started immitating Guinto. When she looked at him, he stalled, but ploughed forth eventually, not wanting to suffer any wrath or reprimand. "you are in the Undernet. I am Nightman, and this is Guinto...man, our leader of the Resistance against Upper Navis."

She blinked. "Upper... Navis?"

"Those Navis who live and work in ACDC, Scilab, and the like. It seems that they've been attacking our home, the Undernet, for the last few days, and we have started a resistance against them. Would you like to accompany us to our fort? Although, it's become much more like a palace..."

She looked at Nightman, and nodded. "I think I like you, Nightman. You speak up, even if it could mean trouble." She turned to Guinto, who was still knealing before her. "How did you become the leader?" She asked him, while still sitting there.

"I was elected, Lady."

She snorted. "Then I assume that they are all blustering idiots. If you address me from now on, Guinto, speak up, and don't be afraid to say what you think. Do you understand me?"

"Of course. Nightman, would you care to help our Lady out of her pod?"

Nightman walked forward to her side, and bowed respectfully. He knew how to do such things- his old Net op, before he had been abandoned, worked for Princess Pride, and Nightman had worked alongside his 'brother', Knightman. He held out his arm for her to take, and take it she did, rising elegantly out of her chamber. As they began their walk back, she still didn't let go of Nightman, as she got used to walking again. "Really... couldn't you have at least made a road for me to walk on?" She asked huffily.

Nightman nodded his head. "We would have, Lady, but Guinto didn't even tell me about you, or the Stasis pod, until moments before you awoke."

Guinto, who was navigating, and trying to find the easiest route, felt her glare at him. "Then I suppose there will be no preperations for my arrival?"

"No, Lady."

"Nightman... do you even know who I am?"

"To be truthful? No, Lady. Although, based on what I have seen and heard, you must be someone important."

"Indeed."

They were quiet for a few minutes, before Nightman got up the courage to ask, "Lady?"

"Yes?"

"What is your name, if I may be so bold to ask?"

She giggled. "Yes, you may be so bold to ask."

Guinto turned around, waiting as well, and almost walking into a poll that was sticking out of the ground.

"My name, is...

**Eria**."  
  
**-------------------------------------------------------{I}Story Ends{I}---------------------------------------------------**  
  
**Kay**: And there you have it. I finally overcame my writer's block, and wrote a HUGE section! Don't you love it?

**Shila**: yeah. And it took you two whole days to do.

**Kay**: you can't rush me- this is an art.

**Shila:** (snorts) if this is art, I wouldn't pay five dollars for it.

**Kay**: one?

**Shila**: maybe.

**Kay**: hey... wait a second.

**Shila**: yeah?

**Kay**: how did you get back in?

**Shila:** um... er... your... mom let me in?

**Kay**: Liar!

**Shila**: okay, my multi-purpose weapon let me in, happy?

**Kay**: I would be if... (grabs the hand-sized metal... ball, baisically, and holds in out the window) Ha! I'll drop it!

**Shila:** go ahead.

**Kay**: Fine! (lets go of the metal thingy, and then realizes that she's in the basement, and it dropped six inches onto fluffy grass cuttings) oops...  
  
**----------------------------------------------------{I}Quotes! Mrah ha ha...{I}-----------------------------------------------**  
  
**_Quote 1:_**

**"Angie .....da bubble luva lol shes on dis page because she steals my hat every single day at school den on sat. she took it and gave it to gorge AHHHHHHHHHh EVIL pure EVIL"  
**

**_Quote 2:_**

**"Angie..... Haha i got ur pic ok so i am a lil evil but not dat evil"  
**

**  
_Those are just random quotes that my friend has of me on her website. If you're nice, I might give you the url.  
_  
------------------------------------------{I}Reviews! I got three reviews! HA!{I}-------------------------------------------  
  
_Telulu Hunter:_ Wow, thanks for the review. I feel special.**

**_Sorrowful Rain:_ Here's your other chap! And is this enough hinting, or should I do a full- blown make out session?  
**

**_DC_: I feel smart... I remembered what you said about people putting just 'DC' instead of your whole name... :), and yes, I will keep up the 'good work on this one'. At least, I'll try...  
**

**  
  
_Thanks to everyone for their reviews!_ **

---------------------------------------------------{I}Song of the chappie{I}----------------------------------------------------

Well, Mayl already sang part of it, so why not 'In the Land of Twilight (Under the Moon)', from .hackSIGN. I got hooked on those songs again lately... nice, depressing-ish, and, best yet, refers to Tsukasa! Which my friend, who did the quotes, is, according to three different quizes. And she's a girl!

-----------------------------------------------------{I}Random thingy{I}-------------------------------------------------------  
  
_CLICK THE BUTTON!_

_THE BUTTON!_

_BUTTON!_

_!_

_(starts dancing around the button, in bright, annoying colors for people to look at the button)_

_!_

_BUTTON!_

_THE BUTTON!_

_CLICK THE BUTTON!_  
  
------------------------------------------------------------{I}End Log{I}------------------------------------------------------- 


	7. TNP Part 1

**------------------------------------------------Begin Log----------------------------------------**

**Kay-fuzz:** Alright, this is going to be Kay-fuzz's last author's notes BEFORE the story. Takes up space, time- and, well, Kay-fuzz just doesn't like the old format. So, now, at the beginng, will be the story title, chapter title, summary, warnings, and a quick re-cap of what's happened. Then right into the story, and at the end will be any rants, etc., from Kay-fuzz. So, let's try out the new format before Shila realizes that the door's unlocked! And yes, Kay-fuzz talks in not only the third person somtimes, but adds the suffix -fuzz to names now. And people think Kay-fuzz is weird. At least Kay-fuzz is not Kay-fuzz's friend, Laila-fuzz...

**--------------------------------------------------Start-------------------------------------------**

**Secrets of the Undernet**

**Chapter 7:** T.N.P. Part 1

**Disclaimer: **Kay-fuzz don't own. CAPCOM owns. CAPCOM shall die by Kay-fuzz's hands... or at least the translators. Kay-fuzz own story idea (this story). Kay-fuzz do not own other random cameos, either. Random cameos owned by other companies. Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad.

**Summary: **After agreeing to a trade with a mysterious Navi, Roll finds herself stuck in the Undernet. Can she uncover it's secrets before she's trapped forever? LanMayl, MegaRoll (near the end... kinda hard to do a romance when they're not together, ne?)

**Warning: **Contains insanity. One of the prolouge stories for Warp Fusion. A small, weird, bathroom scene, where shower hangings attack. Written- IN ONE DAY- while the author was devouring a large bag of Hershey (R) Chipits (R) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips.

**Re-cap (last chap): **Tiaslia finds some 'special' info and data, and makes a deal with Mega to visit Dr. Hikari about his creation. Proto, Glye, Guts, Iceman and Quersoæn start trying to figure out Mega's past, while Eria finally makes her debut. And Lan and Mayl fall asleep in a position that one reviewer commented would have Haruka up in arms, and Lan grounded for a year at least.

**Note: For more info on T.N.P., please e-mail Kay-fuzz, and Kay-fuzz will send you a link.**

**------------------------------------------------Story Start---------------------------------------**

Mornings were not fun. Especially not for Tialsia. Now, even though she was a Net Navi, she still did not like waking up. When she actually was up, it was fine. But... just not when she was asleep. Yet, today, this morning, was even worse. Why was it worse? Had she done something stupid? Had sge blown someone up that she shouldn't have? Had she let something slip -AGAIN- that she shouldn't have?

Well, to be described properly, it was like this- every single Navi- yes, all of them- that were helping in the search for Roll had decided to come to Megaman's HP to let Lan, Mayl and Mega know if they had discovered anything. It was also just for a quick meeting before most of them went out on field work, to hear what others had found out, as well.

Of course, both Megaman and Tialsia had no idea that this was going to happen- it just did. Neither did any of the Net-ops, actually. It just seemed that they all, somehow, ended up at Megaman's HP, some coming in groups, others singally. In fact, no one had any idea why they went to Megaman's HP.

They were not expecting to find anyone else there, other than Megaman, and maybe Quersoæn. Well, they found Tialsia as well as Megaman and Quersoæn, who had helped to plot Tialsia's little plan. Speaking of which...

**---------------(0)Permanant FLASHBACK! And I'm barely four paragraphs in...(0)-------------**

Tialsia had woken up later than she meant to- of course, earlier than what everyone else woke up, too. Of course, due to her ridiculous amount of energy drain the night before, she was feeling ridiculously tired. And she was having a very pleasant dream, in which... oh, we don't care about her dream. And she found the corner she was laying in very comfy.

Due to this, Tialsia was very reluctant to awaken from her slumber, especially when something was gently kicking her in the small of her back. Groaning in discomfort, she rolled away from her abusser, who simply followed her, all the while trying to wake her up.

It wasn't until Tiaslaia felt a blaster shot go right by her ear that she cocked one eye open. And promptly shut it with another groan when she saw who it was.

"Quersoæn..." Tialsia murmurred, hoping that the other, brightly colored Navi, would leave her alone.

However, if how she was now poking and tickling any indication, she probably wouldn't.

Sighing Tialsia slowly sat up, before checking her energy levels. She would easily be able to get to the Hall now- but that was about all she could do, until she had built up her energy. So, instead, she glared at Quersoæn.

"Why did you wake me up?"

Quersoæn shrugged. "I dunno. But, I think that some other Navis are coming over here, and we can't have you sleeping!"

Tialsia groaned, and stood up. Then she realized that she had accidentally fallen asleep in her battle armor. "Ooops... that's probably why I didn't recharge so quickly...."

Tialsia walked a few steps away from Quersoæn, before activating her armor change program. Soon, the strange squigly designs on her body suit were gone, as well as the mouth filter... thingy, the cloth around her face, the shoulder pads, and the half-vest thingy. She was now dressed like... for example, Megaman.

A very basic, skin... erm, data... erm, frame tight suit was on her body. Although the silver base color had stayed, a thick band of red looped around her chest, from just below her armpits to where her vest used to end. Four thinner bands wrapped around her stomach and abs. Other than that, her face was no longer unobstructed- pink, full lips, a small nose, and a stubborn chin were apparent.

Quersoæn looked on in awe. "What... just happened?"

Tialsia looked up at the other navi. "Eh? Well, I have battle armor, fighting armor, and normal armor. This is my normal armor- my battle armor is what I'm usually wearing, and when I'm in a Net Battle, I'm wearing fight armor."

Quersoæn nodded, to show that she understood, stopped for a moment, then shook her head. "Nope, sorry, I don't get it."

Tialsia grinned. "That doesn't matter. Quersoæn-" she suddenly adopted a very proper demeanour "-if it would not be too much trouble, would it be possible for you to aid me to awaken our sleeping comrad?"

Quersoæn immitated her grin almost perfectly- kind, innocent- in other words, exactly what Tialsia and Quersoæn, at this moment, were not. "Well, of course I would. How kind of you to ask!"

As they both turned to Megaman, who was still 'sleeping' in the corner, the kind, polite grins faded from their faces- and were replaced by evil, I-will-punish-you-if-you-look-at-me smirks. Their eyes glittered menacingly. The area around their eyes, and most of their faces became shrouded in black. And, to top it all off, a strange, evil chuckling could be heard coming from them.

Both made their way over to Megaman, who was laying on the floor, on his back, eyes closed, and breathing calmly, and deeply.

Both raised their hands, making them look like they were about to grab Megaman, and rip him into little pieces.

Both exchanged one dark glance, before letting their hands fall, and, after looking around to see what two different shushing noises were, they-

"TICKLE!" Both Tialsia and Quersoæn started tickling Megaman continuously, after screaming this out.

Megaman, although not waking up completely when his two attackers had screamed, woke up with a jolt as he felt the two pairs of hands start to mercillessly tickle him.

He laughed, while trying to escape the hands, and began rolling around on the floor. However, the hands refused to stop until he yelled out, "Okay, okay! I'm awake!"

At this both hands stopped, and all three then sat on the floor, panting slightly. Every once in a while, a small giggle would break out, sending all of them into helpless laughter.

Finally, Tialsia got control of herself. "THAT, Quersoæn, is how you wake someone up." This sent Quersoæn into another bout of giggling. Megaman turned to Tialsia. "How did she wake you up?"

Tialsia groaned. "She kicked me with her foot!"

Megaman started laughing now, and it quickly spread through all the other Navis around- including the ones that Tialsia, Megaman and Quersoæn hadn't noticed access Megaman's HP, and their Net Ops, including-

"Well, that was interesting..." Mayl said, as she giggled.

Lan, sitting up groggily in his bed, looked around, and began to wonder why he wasn't under the covers. "Hmm? What was interesting, Mayl?"

Mayl shook her head. "Nothing... just now I know how to get you up in the morning..."

Lan gulped, but got up slowly, grabbed some clothes, and went to change.

Completely ignoring all the other Navis, the red, blue, and green Navis turned to Mayl. "How long have you been up, Ms. Sakurai?" Tialsia asked, ever polite when actually facing the people she was talking to, if she had never really talked to them before.

Mayl grinned, and shook her head. "No Ms. Sakurai for me. Just Mayl. And you are Tialsia, I assume?"

Tialsia nodded. "Yup! Did Mega talk to you about..."

Mayl nodded. "Yes, he did. We'll be heading over to Scilab soon. You could ride in our PETs, or mine at least, if you want, Tialsia."

Tialsia grinned. "Thank you, Ms- erm, Mayl." She hastily corrected herself, as she saw the red head's glare. "Besides, I would rather not wander around the net right now, considering I have some data that should get asap to Dr. Hikari."

Mayl nodded, before turning away from the screen. "LAN! We're leaving in ten minutes, and grabbing breakfast on the way!"

Lan's head poked around the corner of the door, surprised. "But..."

"No buts! If you're getting in the shower, MOVE IT!"

Yelping, Lan quickly ducked back around the corner, and the sound of running water could be heard.

"Really... he can be so dense sometimes..." Mayl commented, a small grin on her face.

This caused Tialsia and Megaman to sweatdrop, both knowing quite a bit about human emotions.

"They sound like a married couple..." Tialsia whispered to Megaman and Quersoæn. This triggered full-fledge laughing from the both of them.

Everyone else blinked, before Protoman stepped forward to address them.

"Megama-"

"WWWHHHHAAAA!!!!!"

As the Navis winced and covered their ears, three other Navis and one human screamed in surprise, and started panting due to their fear.

"God... that was scary..." Tialsia commented as she struggled to get her breathing under control.

"You... got that... right..." Quersoæn replied.

Megaman turned to Protoman. "You could possibly make a bit MORE sound when you decide to visit next time?" He asked, a small smile gracing his features at the looks on some of the other Navi's faces.

Protoman shook his head. "We've been here for nearly five minutes, and you haven't noticed. I wasn't sure how to get your attention, other than talking to you."

"You mean scaring us!" Quersoæn called out, where she and Tialsia were struggling now not to laugh again.

Protoman sighed, and shook his head. "You keep some weird company, Megaman."

"HEY!" That came from quite a few different voices, Navis and humans alike.

Megaman grinned. "So, Protoman... what's everyone doing here?"

"Well, we decided before we go out on field work that we would meet somewhere that everyone could get to, if you had the password. Anyways, the plan for today is..."

While Megaman and Protoman were discussing what everyone was going to be doing, Mayl had collapsed onto Lan's bed when Protoman had scared her, and was still laying there. She dimly heard all the Navis, except Megaman and Tialsia, log off not too long after their scare, and then a crash, coming barely thirty seconds after she screamed, from the bathroom.

Sighing, Mayl stood up to see what Lan had done now.

Entering the bathroom, Mayl surveyed the scene, blushed so that she was as red as I get when I'm sunburned, and then turned away, a not-so-small stress sign on her head.

"Lan... how did you manage to knock down EVERYTHING in the bathroom, including yourself?"

Indeed, towels, shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrushes, whatever one would have laying around the bathroom or on the sink ledge was on the floor. Himself, Lan was wrapped up in the blue shower curtain, which had been pulled off it's hangings by his weight.

"Well... I heard you scream, and I tried to get out of the shower, but then I tripped."

"And that took you thirty seconds?"

"Well, I grabbed onto the counter to stop me from falling, and then I tried to get out again..."

"And THEN you fell like this?"

"Erm... yes?"

Mayl sighed, before turning around, her blush still on her face. "Okay, Lan. I'll help you get out of here, but- you have to do what I say for the rest of today, alright?"

He sighed, and nodded. "Yes, Mayl."

She surveyed the scene again. "Okay. First off, let's get you out of there. Where's the towels?"

Lan gulped. "I think I'm lying on them."

Upon hearing this, and thinking about the situation, Mayl decided to try something else.

"Fine... okay, can you stand up?"

"Well..."

"Can you, or can you not?" She snapped.

Lan, gulping again, tried to stand while keeping the hangings wrapped tightly around his body. However, it turns out the the hangings didn't want him standing, and proceeded to trip him, sending him flying into Mayl.

Mayl, not prepared for this, fell back onto the floor, Lan landing ontop of her.

The shower hangings, not completely satisfied with their attacking only one person, wrapped around Mayl as well, tightly securing herself and Lan together.

Opening her eyes, Mayl was surprised to find that she could not move either her hands, feet or body. And that Lan's face, his eyes still shut tightly, was only five inches away from her face.

"Lan...?"

He opened his eyes slowly, almost afraid to see what was going on.

"Erm... hi?"

Her eye twitched, annoyed with his clumsyness, but there was something else, too. At their closeness, she could feel something in her gut twist and tighten, her breathing speed up a bit, and it seemed to be far hotter in the room than it had been a few seconds ago.

Lan seemed to be going through something quite similar. She could feel his breath, which was also quickening in pace, on her cheek, and how her breasts, stomach, hips and thighs were tightly squished against his own.

Along with some other... interesting sensations, it all served to produce an uncomfortable, but not unwelcome, feeling in each other.

Suddenly, both seemed to come to their scences, and tried to get out of the tangle of the shower curtain. However, the shower curtain did not feel that it was finished it's work, and instead only wrapped them up tighter.

Mayl sighed. "Well, can you think of anyway to get out of this?"

Lan shook his head, which made some of his unrestrained hair tickle Mayl's face. Her breath caught in her throat, before she deeply inhaled when realizing that she wasn't breathing. As she did so, she accidentally also inhaled a scent that was not new to her nose- but she had never actually _smelt_ it before.

Something like fresh, country air mixed with lavender filled her nostrils, a very rare scent to find in the city. _I... I think I like this smell... I want to smell it more... WAIT! WHAT AM I THINKING?! _She gasped, her eyes widening.

Lan, confused about how Mayl, was attacking tried to catch her attention- however, he could do nothing moer than talk and move his head.

"Mayl... hey Mayl... Mayl! HEY!"

However, she still seemed spaced out, so Lan did the only thing he could think of in this situation.

He kissed her.

Mayl froze, but, before she knew she was doing, or what was happening, she was responding to his kiss, her body becoming liquid.

They stayed like that for a good minute or so, before breaking apart.

"L... Lan..." She whispered, surprised.

Lan didn't know what to do either. They just stared into each other eyes for a bit longer.

The shower curtain, though, seemed to bore of attacking the two, so it slowly loosened, until Mayl could slide out from underneath Lan.

However, she made no move to, and Lan made no move to force her. It wasn't until a screaming from Lan's room caught their attention that Mayl even though about getting up.

She sighed, before trying to move. This, however, dislodged the curtain that was still covering them- which meant, essentially, that Lan was pretty much naked, and ontop of Mayl.

Both began blushing, before Mayl hurriedly removed herself from her position, stalked away from Lan, and slammed the door.

Lan sighed in relief. He already had to do what Mayl told him to do for a day... he did not want to really get on her bad side. But... _what just happened? I never thought... aw man, this is too weird._

He sat up, gathered his clothes, and quickly got dressed.

_I guess I should talk to Mayl... but... what am I supposed to say?_

He slowly began walking to his room, trying his hardest to get rid of his blush, which was still slightly on his face. He was saved from thinking about it further by Mayl quickly dodging out of his room, both PETs in her hands.

"Lan! Come on- I had to seperate these two to keep them from killing each other! Take Megaman- I'll take Tialsia. And we need to get to Scilab, now!"

Lan nodded, grateful that, in a pacing look, both made a pact to never speak about what happened in the bath room again.

Both walked out the door, after leaving a note for Haruka when ever she got back from her community meeting, as though nothing happened.

"Okay, Megaman... what happened exactly?" Lan asked his Navi, trying to be as serrious as possible, but failing isserably due to the state that Megaman was in.

"Do you really want to know?" Megaman replied, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Lan narrowed his eyes. "Yes. Now, spill."

Megaman sighed. "Aright, alright... well, we were talking..."

"And..."

Mayl grinned. "You're helping to tell the story too, Tialsia."

The red and yellow navi gasped. "WHAT?! But... but... it's all his fault!"

This started a loud debate that made Lan and Mayl get curious stares from passers-by as they made their way onto or off of the subway.

"You guys... a bit quieter, please?" Mayl asked, blushing as a slightly older, very... let's say 'charming' looking guy walked passed, eye brows raised in amusement.

"Alright, alright.... ALIGHT!" Lan practically screamed at them, as they stared threatening each other. "We won't talk about it. Okay?"

"Fine."

"Whatever."

Mayl looked curiously at Tialsia as she said that. "I've never heard that word used like that..."

Tialsia grinned. "My Net-op and some of her friends like immitating what we've dubbed 'Valley Girls'- basically, girls that think they're better than everyone else, and are obsessed with their looks. A lot of them say things like 'whatever', and in that way, too."

That made Mayl giggle. "Really? So... are there any of these Valley Girls that I might know, or anyone who could be one?"

Tialsia thought for a moment. "No one that I can think of. You might meet one, though. But still... it's fun to immitate them!"

Mayl nodded. "Okay... so how do they speak again?"

Tialsia grinned. "You've got to put a lot of attitude into it, like everyone is below you, and you are the best. Like they're slime, and you're... well, better than slime. Try it."

"What-ever. Like that?"

Tialsia nodded. "Yeah, but just a bit more emphasis. Here, let me show you..."

Meanwhile, well, actually, right beside them, Lan and Megaman were having their own conversation.

"...you have got to be kidding me."

"Hey, you're the one who asked. And besides- only girls are supposed to talk about this stuff."

Megaman shook his head. "And I just said that yesterday..." He muttered. "Well then, we'll be girls for a bit. But what made you _kiss_ her?"

Lan sighed, and shrugged. "I have no idea. I just... did. I couldn't figure out any other way, and it seemed like a good excuse, anyways..."

Megaman sighed. "Only you would be in love with your best friend, and have absolutely no idea."

Lan's eye twitched. "What do you mean, 'in love with you're best friend'? YOU'RE my best friend!"

"Best HUMAN friend."

"Ooooohhh..."

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Lan and Mayl stepped off the train, just as a group of other Net Battlers stepped on. One of them recognized Lan and Mayl, and stopped to talk to them.

"Hey! You're the two who are looking for that Net Navi Roll!"

Mayl blinked. "And if we are?" Came a voice from her PET.

He blinked. "Well... I was wondering that, in exchange for some information I have, would you be willing to have some dinner with me?" He was looking at Mayl when he said this, so it was obvious that Lan was not included in the 'dinner'.

However, this caused Lan to growl low in his throat, and become possessive of Mayl. Grabbing her hand, he led her away.

"Sorry, be we need to see Dr. Hikari."

The youth chortled. "Sorry, but you can't. We were just there to see him- we've had this appointment for a while. About the Roll thing. Anyways, he's cancelled all appointments for today, saying something about waiting for his son and his son's friend and some Navis."

Mayl grinned. "And that's precisely why we're going to be able to get in."

Now Mayl dragged Lan up the stairs, away from the annoying Net Battler. Lan blinked. "Um... you don't like him?"

Mayl snorted. "No... I've already got a man in my life..." She giggled, and winked at Lan. However, this caused them to blush, remembering what happened in the bathroom, and made Mayl change the subject quickly. "Besides, he was only trying to probably use me." Lan choked on that. Mayl grinned... a little evily. "Yes Lan, there's still people like that around. Although why on Earth they do that still..."

"You mean why on Gaea, right?" Tialsia asked.

Mayl blinked as she pulled out her PET. "What do you mean, 'Gaea'?"

Lan pulled even with Mayl to look at Tialsia, too. Unbeknwnst to them, they had stopped in the middle of the waiting room, where quite a few people, important and unimportant, were waiting.

"Yeah, Gaea... G-A-E-A, also spelt G-A-I-A, not that I would expect you to know one of the Old Languages. It means 'Earth', and it's part of the name of one of Stoneman's attacks."

Megaman nodded from his PET. "Yeah, I remember. 'Gaea Hammer', right?"

"Yup!"

"Okay... but what's an Old Language?" Lan asked, confused.

"Old Language: one of the languages that was used in the past. The Old Languages are now no longer in common use, although some people, like scientists or doctors, know them, as they are the foundation of most of the Net, and nearly all the programs. Five languages make up the Old Languages- one of which was old when the other four were not. English, Japanese, French, and Spanish were the 'new' Old Languages, and Latin, the oldest of the Old Languages, was actually the basis for many words in English, French, and Spanish, not to mention Italian."

Mayl, Lan and Megaman blinked.

"You... know a lot about the past, don't you?" Megaman asked uncertainly.

"Yup!"

Lan looked up to see that people were staring at them- and that they stopped moving. Sighing, he pulled Mayl along to the desk.

"We're here to see-"

"Dr. Hikari, I know." The receptionist without looking up.

"You can either wait until his son gets here, or you can reschedule your appointment for another day."

"Well... I am his son."

"And I've heard that about sixty times this morning. Security? Would you please escort them out of the office?"

Two large, bulky guys suddenly appeared behind Lan and Mayl, surprising them. The guards grabbed their wrists and started to drag them towards the door.

"Lan? Mayl? What's going on?"

Everyone turned to see Dr. Hikari standing at the elevator door, watching the guards pull Lan and Mayl away. The receptionist got up and bowed to him.

"Dr. Hikari, these two were some more imposters, pretending to be your son, and his friend."

A slow murmur spread through the room, as people glared at Lan and Mayl.

"Hey! We were here first- we should be able to see you now!" Said a young looking man.

"Well, we're older, so we should get to go first!" Was the quick reply from some of the older folks there.

"I have an appointment for first thing- I should go immediately!" A man in a business suit proclaimed.

"None of you are going anywhere, except outside, until Dr. Hikari's son and his son's friend get here!" The receptionist yelled back at them.

"Well, they're not here, so-"

"QUIET!"

Everyoen turned to looked at Dr. Hikari in surprise. He ran his fingers through his hair, and glanced at Lan and Mayl.

"Alright, bring those two here."

The guards brought Lan and Mayl forward, while the crowd jeered. "You're going to get it now, punks!" Said the young man who had spoken out first.

Dr. Hikari glared at that man, before looking at Lan and Mayl again.

"Alright... here's a test. If you are Lan, then what Style Change does Megaman get from an Extra Code?"

"Aqua-Custom Style: it completely heals Megaman, and gives the spreader battle chip enough of a boost to create a program advance. But it's really dangerous, since Megaman was almost deleted at the end of his battle with Planetman, that we don't like using it much."

Dr. Hikari remained impassive. "Okay, then... if you are Mayl, who is Empress, and how did Empress come into existance?"

"Empress is my Navi Roll's evil form, and she is created by inserting the Great White Angel Twisted Battlechip into the PET."

"And how is that condition remedied?"

"She is returned to normal by inserting a cyclone Battlechip into the PET. The Great White Angel chip simply slides out, and was demolished the first time this happened in the N1 Grand-Prix."

Dr. Hikari looked at both Lan and Mayl with a serrious look, before saying, "Well, it seems that you were..." his serrious look turned to a smile, "telling the truth. Sorry for the hassel, Lan, Mayl, but, as you can see, there's a lot of people who want to see me."

Lan nodded. "Yeah, Dad, I can see that. Erm... can we go now?"

Yuucihiro nodded as well, before turning to the receptionist. "If you ever see these two again, let them in, unless I am in a very important meeting with someone, or working on one of the new projects."

"Yes... Dr. Hikari..." The receptionist blushed at her mistake, before sitting abck down in her chair behind the desk.

Yuuichiro led Lan and Mayl into his private office, before turning to face them.

"Alright... I heard that you, or someone you know, needs to see me about something?"

"Right, Dad. Here- Jack in!"

"Jack-in!" Mayl mimicked. Megaman and Tialsia appeared on the screen. Dr. Hikari looked them over.

"Megaman, you seem to be in top condition. Not exerting yourself too much, are you?"

Megaman grinned, but shook his head. "No... actually, I've been confined to the Hall of Records until further notice by Tialsia and Risuko, apparently."

Dr. Hikari chuckled. "Yes, I remember Risuko... is he still making sure that no one lies?"

Tialsia giggled. "I think that it's fixed permenantly into his programing!"

Megaman grinned, as did Dr. Hikari. Lan and Mayl, never having actually talked to Risuko, had absolutely no idea what everyone was talking about.

"So... you are the one that needs to talk to me?" Yuuichiro asked Tialsia.

"Yeah... but first, I have... a... present, let's say, for you, that I found in the Wastes."

As Tialsia began to pull out the data, Dr. Hikari paled. "You... you can enter the Wastes?"

Tialsia blinked as she finished removing the special data from her own. "Yep... I can access nearly anywhere freely... not that I do, though. Here- this should tell you what I need to talk to you about."

"Alright. Jack-in, Pap.EXE, transmission!"

Dr. Hikari's Navi appeared on the screen. "Would you like me to access the file?" He asked. No one was completely sure who he asked, but both Tialsia and Dr. Hikari nodded.

Immedaitely after accessing the data, a small screen appeared, and lines of data began quickly ascending on it. Dr. Hikari's eyes flicked over the characters expertly, and then stopped.

"This... how did you get this?" He asked her, quietly.

Tialsia shrugged. "I told you... in the wastes."

Dr. Hikari glanced at Lan and Mayl, before sighing. "I don't want to send you two outside anywhere, for fear that you might be mobbed... but..." He looked at Megaman. "Would it be okay if...?"

Megaman shrugged. "Why not? Both Lan and Mayl have a right to know."

Dr. Hikari sighed, nodded, and turned back to Lan and Mayl. "Why don't both of you take a seat? This might be a bit confusing."

Already, both of them had confused looks on their faces.

Tialsia eyed Dr. Hikari as he also took a seat facing the screen. "Well, Tialsia? What would you like to know?"

The red and yellow Navi grinned. "Everything."

"Then this is going to take a while..."

**--------------------------------------Mrow (DON'T KILL ME, JACQUI!)---------------------**

Tajin sighed, as she and Zednane kneeled in the chamber of the Four Ladies. Of course, only one of the Four Ladies was actually there- the other three were on Earth in this realm, due to the fact that one of them was asked to stay there forever.

"Tajin, Zednane..." They both froze, waiting for a reprimand, "I am proud of you."

Tajin blinked, not lifting her head, but Zednane was by far bolder, and addressed the Lady of the Roses.

"Erm... but... we let her know about... well, almost everything."

"Exactly. You did it in such a way that she would not completely freak out, and try to kill you. I couldn't have done better."

Tajin also raised her head then. "But... Base Gate..."

"Is completely compatible with any Navi that has ANY sort of data to do with the Chosen. It just so happens that she was created to be the partner of a Chosen, and therefore become a Chosen. Now that she knows of it, she should actually start working towards her goal of obtaining and mastering the Base Gate Program."

"Yes, of course, Lady." Tajin replied.

Zednane, however, was not satisfied. "But... she won't remember..."

The Lady of the Roses sighed. "Yes, and that is something that cannot be helped. However, it is better, as you revealed almost a bit too much."

"I see..." Zednane bowed her head again.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments, before Tajin spoke up. "But Lady..."

"I know what you want to say, Tajin. He is calling himself Guinto there? Well, Guinto appearing there words to our advantage. The focus will be off Roll, and their search for her, if Guinto is causing trouble, and so Eria will be able to move around more freely. Besdies her coloring, she doesn't look much like an Undernet Navi at all."

"Of course, Lady." Both Zednane and Tajin said at the same time.

"And you two are wondering about the 'Protect the Chosen Opperation'? PCO?"

"Er... yes, Lady." Tajin replied.

"Everything is running semi-smoothly. We just have to be careful- Tialsia has a habit of letting things slip. However, it's done obscurely enough that it is not much of a problem. Fædellë, I am sure, will start to open up- however, I would like you to tell Ere, X, or Chrono to send out a message to her to return immediately. A new program was developed not too long ago, while you were in Stasis, and I would like her to practice using it. When she has perfected it, tell her and Tialsia to switch places."

"So that one can train, and one can watch, Lady?"

"Precisely.And, actually, it wasn't so much developed as it was perfected- Gunir will now strike down anything, when activated and properly controlled, that is disobeying the Universal Law set down by the High Council."

"Who perfected it, Lady?" Zednane wondered.

"Well... I did. I hope that there's no need to use it."

"What... what if someone who is not disobeying Universal Law gets in the way of Gunir, Lady?"

"Then an explosion will occur, creating a temporary Base Gate. It will warp whoever is caught in the blast to where ever they most need to go, to restore harmony to the worlds. However, all must go together, so it is quite hard to determine what would happen."

"Yes, Lady."

"Tajin, Zednane? I congratulate you. After you tell Ere, X or Chrono my message, you may have a month off all duties."

"A month?!" Tajin exclaimed. "I haven't had a day off in... well, I think it's been nearly 500 years!"

"A month?!" Zednane yelled at the same time Tajin did. "Only a month?! Why not a year? Or two years? Or ten years? Or-"

"Or how about you two go relay the message and head back to your quarters before I change my mind?" The Lady told them with a stern, but kind voice.

"Yes Lady!" Both bowed, before scrambling to get out of the chamber.

**------------------------------------------------End Story----------------------------------------**

**Kay-fuzz:** Okay, don't ask me how- but Shila never figured out that the door was open. And then Kay-fuzz's parents came home, so Kay-fuzz got to be lazy and stupid. Then Kay-fuzz got a back massage, ate some York Mints that cost, like, $5.00 for a bag of them, and then Kay-fuzz got some other junk food! And now, here's just some things about this chappie:

**1)** Kay-fuzz used a new format. When there's a scene change, you have to guess now :). If Kay-fuzz has the need to actually write something, it will be just random noises. And, like Kay-fuzz already stated in the story, Jacqui? If you read this? PLEASE DON'T KILL KAY-FUZZ! Okay, Kay-fuzz is good.

**2)** Introduced a new character. No, it's not an OC. And Kay-fuzz is sure by the way that Tajin and Zednane were calling her 'Lady', you can guess she's female. Also, Tajin and Zednane are actual characters from the manga- you just never hear them talk, although you do see them, especially in the movie. Kay-fuzz just found their names on a website. So, they're not really OCs... although you can consider them OCs if you want to! And cookies, cakes, or Kay-fuzz's mom's Apple Crisp... no, Kay-fuzz's mom's Special Italian Special-Event Dinner (Ceaser or Garden Salad, Veal Parmesan, Fresh Spaghetti w/meat balls, or meat sauce, water, coke, wine/bear/martinis (if you're old enough), Tartufo, Apple Crisp, the Leone family's Special Biscotti, and some Bruschetta!) if you can guess who the Four Ladies are. Yes, they will eventually make an appearance... but not until either the end of this story, or Warp Fusion. Until then, RANDOM CAMEOS!

**3)** No cameos by songs that Kay-fuzz has been listening to in this chapter. Don't worry- there'll be more song cameos as time goes on!

**4)** The bathroom scene? This actually happened to Kay-fuzz... well, not the whole 'get wrapped up with the one you love' thingy, but being attacked by the Shower Curtain. Kay-fuzz's mom almost killed Kay-fuzz- instead of the shower curtain snapping off the bar, the bar came down on Kay-fuzz's head, hit the African Violet which was on the counter, broke that, Kay-fuzz tripped, knocked over the clock, the GLASS bottles of Aroma Therapy liquids, the Contact Lens Solution (which was open), the contact lens case w/ contact lenses in it (which was also open), the toothpaste, creams, water galss, tooth brush holder, ALL the towels (on the rack, behind the door, on the ring), and broke one of the three mirror doors on the cupboard. And then Kay-fuzz had to hop around in the shower curtain, trailing the metal bar, some towels and a toothbrush (which all had the Armona Therapy liquids on them), until Kay-fuzz found her mom, talking to her friend's mom, and asked her to help get the evil shower curtain off Kay-fuzz. It was soon after that we got the shower stall in the downstairs bathroom...

**5)** Yes, the whole 'only girls talk about this stuff' idea comes from Neverwhere: Chaos Mode's 'The Absent Years' story. When Kay-fuzz wrote chapter six, Kay-fuzz had just finished reading the whole story over again, but Kay-fuzz couldn't figure out where it came from. So here it is.

**6)** Why do astrixes not work? Kay-fuzz tried to use an asterix is the story, and it did not work. Silly staff, whom Kay-fuzz shall praise forever, because they are not evil-silly like CAPCOM or CAPCOM's translators. Silly translators.

**Kay-fuzz shall now respond to reviews. Kay-fuzz likes reviews!**

**WintersIceAngel**: There is supposed to be twists and turns! The readers shall not know the end until the end! And, the end is not really the end, but the begining of Warp Fusion, so there shall be more twists and turns to be explained! But, Kay-fuzz thinks that she should tell you this: there is a small x-over with another anime, but they really only get mentioned, and a few random cameos by people. Although the characters Tialsia and Fædellë work with/for the people from the other anime, they are Kay-fuzz's OCs, whom Kay-fuzz likes. They are cool.

**Telulu Hunter**: And another update! Kay-fuzz thinks she should work on this, so that I can work on Running w/o too much interuption, and then she can work on this w/o too much interuption. See? Kay-fuzz can be smart. And Kay-fuzz shall be making more long chapters, like this one! Kay-fuzz hopes you like it, and that you do not kill her for her use of the third person. But Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips are soooo good, Kay-fuzz thinks...

**DC**: Kay-fuzz likes your name. Although Kay-fuzz is planning on them finding out, it won't be for a while, and not in the order you said. Kay-fuzz set the stage this chappie for Lan to find out first, with Mayl, so that it won't be in the wrong order. But... since Kay-fuzz left off at that point, who can tell what will happen next chappie, especially with what Chaud said in chappie six? Anyways, Kay-fuzz has decided that Haruka is to leave early every single morning for community meetings, so that she does not interupt our, well, one of Kay-fuzz's, anyways, favorite couples. Roll might leave the Undernet, and she might not- a lot of stuff Kay-fuzz is planning to have happen in the next two chappies. Why two, and not three, or four, or one? Because Kay-fuzz feels like having a cliffie. That's why. And Kay-fuzz also decided that Kay-fuzz will update quicker now. Yeah!

**And now Kay-fuzz shall make you click the button, without the usual flare.**

Kay-fuzz: You are getting sleepy... you are getting sleepy... you are getting sleepy... _(falls asleep, before faling off the chair)_ GRK! Erm... you shall now review... you shall now review... you shall now review...

**Finally, Kay-fuzz shall tell you what song she likes this chappie!**

This chappie, Kay-fuzz likes 'Freak Out' by Avril Lavigne, because Kay-fuzz got angry at her mother, and her friend Jacqui-fuzz says that it helps more to make noise when you're angry then to punch a pillow. So Kay-fuzz played Freak Out really loud- on repeat- for an hour straight while she stomped around her room, threw things, and then had to clean up.

**--------------------------------------------(I)End Log(I)----------------------------------------**


	8. TNP Part 2

**-----------------------------------------(I)Begin Log(I)---------------------------------------------**

**Secrets of the Undernet**

**Chapter 8: T.N.P. Part II**

**Disclaimer: **Kay-fuzz don't own. CAPCOM owns. CAPCOM shall die by Kay-fuzz's hands... or at least the translators. Kay-fuzz own story idea (this story). Kay-fuzz do not own other random cameos, either. Random cameos owned by other companies. Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad.

**Summary:** After agreeing to a trade with a mysterious Navi, Roll finds herself stuck in the Undernet. Can she uncover it's secrets before she's trapped forever? LanMayl, MegaRoll (near the end... kinda hard to do a romance when they're not together, ne?)

**Warning:** Contains insanity. One of the prolouge stories for Warp Fusion. Not quite sure what else it contains right now, but it will have some spoilers for what happens in the games/anime/manga (ish), and the history, which we NEVER find out about in the anime... which is really dispointing, but mreh.

**Re-cap (last chap):** A little, interesting bathroom scene (which some people called very funny), feautring Lan and Mayl. Didn't really focus on anything else, other than that. I mean didn't focus on anything else other than Lan and Mayl. A bit of Dr. Hikari. And now, we find out AAAALLLLLLLLLLLL about T.N.P.! YEAH! (crickets) thanx for the encouragement, peoples...

**Spoilers:** A theory about TNP. And something about Inuyasha near the end, but not too much...

**Note: For more info on T.N.P., please e-mail Kay-fuzz, and Kay-fuzz will send you a link.**

**-------------------------------------------------(I)Story(I)------------------------------------------**

Eria looked around the group of Undernet Navis that surrounded her, Guinto and Nightman. They were currently being mobbed in what appeared to be the main hall, without much room to do anything.

"Sir! We detected-"

"We found-"

"There's something-"

Eria's eye twitched. If this was the discipline of the Undernet Navis, she would much rather be back where ever she was just 'rescued' from.

"ALRIGHT! Now, I'm sure that what you all have to say is extremely important-" many Navis glared at her, offened at being talking to in such a rude way, "-but really, could you not just simply organize it all into a nice, little report and send it to whoever you're pestering right now?! Oh, right, they would be pestering you, Guinto..." A slitghly evil look crossed Eria's face, and Nightman gulped, not sure what to think of that look.

Eria sighed, and looked around. "Is there any place for a lady to sit down, or must I do everything myself?"

A Navi, lower down in the ranks than basically everyone that was around him, spoke up. "Sorry, Lady, but we don't."

Eria sighed. "Making a lady do all the work? Really, haven't you ever had to talk to a woman?"

Most of the Navis blinked at this, while a few of the females whistled. "You tell 'em, girl!" One shouted out. Eria smirked hearing this, before turning to Guinto.

"It looks like I've found my court. I expect everyone to at least know my name, and find some place for me to sit!"

Eria stalked off then, away from all the others, to find the other females who had called out. Guinto stared after her with a slight frown on his face. _I had no idea that she would be so... annoying..._

"Sir!"

Guinto turned to the Navi who had called out. It was the same low-ranking one that had yelled out before. "We detected a large energy surge in the system not too long ago- but that wasn't the only thing." He put in before any other navis could cut him off. "It seems that someone who vists the Hall of Records continuously went to the Wastes to find some data not too long ago."

Guinto raised an eye brow- well, if he had one. "And what data were they looking for?"

"We're not sure, but it might have to do with Megaman."

This definately peaked Guinto's interest. _Someone who can get to the Wastes... they must know about Base Gate then. And if they're taking an interest in Megaman..._

"What was this Navi's name?"

"Tialsia.EXE, sir!"

Guinto nodded. "I want a full surveylance team on both Megaman.EXE and Tialsia.EXE continuously until I say that that project is finished!"

"SIR!"

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Eria sighed and blinked, as she looked back at the large group of male navis trying desperately to impress Guinto. Nightman simply stood off to one side, she noticed- he knew his place, and when to open his mouth. _Something I might want to take into consideration when choosing my final court..._

"Eria?"

Eria blinked, and turned around to her temporary court. There weren't many female navis in the Undernet, and even less who survived the purge from the Upper Navis. Those that were left, the ten or so, were obviously in awe of her, and already deeply devoted.

"Oh, I'm sorry... but... I only woke up from stasis not too long ago. Could you please inform me of the situation? Guinto did such a horrid job..." She expertly laced sarcasm through her words, as she let her eyes trail over her court and back towards the leader of the Undernet Rebellion as they had begun to call themselves.

Her court smirked, giggled, and sniggered- Eria could tell that these were navis who made it by manipulation and not being the first one to step up, but also not the last, so to speak.

"There's a private 'garden' not too far from here- we recreated some of the real world's plants, and made it too 'foo-foo' as the men would say, so they don't go in there. It's ther perfect place to talk." Said one, a navi who's body suit was black with stripes of purple laced through the darkness.

"Sounds like a plan. Ladies?"

The dozen navis walked down hallways, whispering in excited voices to make it seem like they were just talking about 'boring, female stuff'- the men would never know anything.

Eventually, they made it to a garden-like area, where they all sat down on benches that appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. Eria summoned some virtual pillows to make their seats more comfortable.

"So, ladies... what's been happening in this part of the net?" As Eria looked around, she noticed that they all had nearly the same style of armor- mainly black, with only one other color laced through the blackness, with shoulder pads, helmets, hair, gloves and boots following the same color scheme. Their armor itself looked much like a standard navi's, with small designs here and there setting them appart, their hair styles, the obvious personalities, and the small marks under each other their eyes, which perfectly matched their suit color.

"The upper navis staged a raid on the Undernet, sending in some of their most powerful destroyers to annihlate everything. They stopped after they destroyed most of the Undernet- but many navis were deleted." Said the purple-striped one.

Another navi, who was laced with light blue, took over. "Some Navis came together to form a 'resistance' of sorts- just a small brigade to fight the Upper Navis."

A black-and-pink took over this time. "A lot of other Navis joined, fearing for themselves."

"Soon, it became this. Everyone started working on this palace, and a leader was elected." A black-and-green said.

"He's a pretty good leader, if a little slow- but he's one of the few who would actually listen to our ideas." Black-and-red told Eria, her eyes glinting maliciously.

"However, this place is male-dominated. It's good to see a female take charge." Black-and-orange said simply.

"We would have, but the males seem to think that we're not even worth fighting-"

"-they just come up with a reason to not fight us."

Eria blinked as she noticed that two of her new court were slight yellow colors. One seemed more orange-yellow, while the other more green.

Dark blue, so dark that one almost couldn't see it, spoke up as she calmed the two down, like a mother would. "They're like that- created from the same codes, at the same time, at the same rate. The Navi equizalent of twins."

Eria smirked. That was good to know. "So, they can know what each other is thinking, or at least feeling, no matter how far away they are from each other?"

"In essence." Remarked a black-on-black navi. Eria noticed that she seemed to fade in and out of existance- _a good spy._

Black-on-white took over to finish it off. "They never stray too far away from each other, and are never apart for longer than a week."

Eria nodded. "So... were you all created using the same program?"

They all blinked, before shaking their heads. "No... we used Fuiyou's stasis pod to change this- well, not the pod, but a program that worked inside the pod. He just used it on his outside." White told her.

"Right... so what are your names?"

They stood in a line, in the same order in which they had spoken (Purple-Light blue-Pink-Green-Red-Orange-Yellow/Orange-Yellow/Green-Dark or Midnight blue-Black-White for those who forgot). And, since they were in that order, why not say their names like that as well?

"I am Violet."

"Sky!"

"Rouge here!"

"Forest."

"Crimson."

"Sunset."

"Sun rise!"

"And Dapple!"

"My name is Midnight."

"I am Yami."

"And I am Hikari."

Eria noticed that a few of the Navis seems to be almost... paired up with another. Sun rise and Dapple, Yami and Hikari, even Violet and Forest, Srimson and Rouge, Sunset and Sky- they were all paired up in a sence, with either their opposites or someone that they had a complimenting personality to.

Eria grinned. "Well, then, Ladies... it seems you have a nice little group here. I've noticed that you're paired up- except Midnight. Well?"

Midnight stepped forward graciously, and opened her mouth to talk. Before she could say anything, however, Sun rise sprang forward, Dapple barely two steps behind her. "She's like our mother!" Sun rise exclaimed.

"She takes care and heals us!" Dapple joined in the aclimations. After looking at the other Navis, and finding that the two 'twins' spoke the truth, Eria turned to Midnight. "You... can heal? Do the males know about this?"

Midnight looked surprised, but shook her head. "No... they do not feel like we can do anything, so I simply resort, as do we all, to doing whatever we can for each other, and those who accept our help."

"Like Nightman..." Rouge sighed, obviously a very... flirty navi.

Eria simply looked at the display infront of her as Crimson make some gestures and comments about her apparent partner, which got a rise out of the love-struck navi. Both were soon rolling on the floor, fighting each other savangely before springing apart and activating their defealt weapons- both were long swords.

They were about to attack each other again, when Sky and Sunset stepped infront of them. "Come one, you too! Lady Eria looks like she's about to say something!" Sky told them gently. Sunset mimicked her partner.

"Let us hear what the great Lady Eria has to say."

Eria sweatdropped as they all formed a semi-circle around her. "Well... is there a name for this little group?"

Most of the eleven blinked at each other, while Yami didn't seem to care, and Midnight shrugged. "We never really thought about it... what do you think a good name would be, Eria?"

Eria grinned at how comfortable they were with her already- almost accpeting her as one of their own. "How about... the Ladies of Darkness?"

That caused everyone to grin, and Yami to show at least some interest. "We like it, Eria." Midnight spoke for all of them.

Eria nodded. "Well, we all heard what Guinto and those bumbling idiots were saying... but why would we need a surveylance team, if we simply brought them here?"

Forest and Violet's eyes lit up. "You mean... kidnap them?"

Eria shurgged. "Call it what you want, ladies, but if we brought them here, and made a nice, small area which they could not leave even if they wanted to-"

"But they could move around-"

"And feel like they're in the normal net-"

"And not be worried-"

"And we'd be able to visit them?"

Eria nodded to Rouge. "Then, instead of that Tialsia.EXE, whoever she is, can we please take Protoman, too?"

Immediately, Crimson was on Rouge again, and the two resumed their fight as the other ladies, Eria included, ignored them.

"So, Eria..." Violet spoke up. "How would we go about this little opperation? It usually takes a day at the minimum for Guinto to even get these guys organized."

Eria grinned. "With the plan I have, we don't even need a day. Tell me, can any of you shape-shift?"

Both Sky and Sunset grinned. "What do you need of us?"

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Dr. Hikari looked between his son, his son's friend, his son's Net Navi, and his son's Net Navi's friend. "You... really want to know about T.N.P., now?" He asked the last one, Tialsia.

She nodded her head. "Yes, Hikari-sensei. However, it is up to you and Megaman, here... or should I say, Hub?"

Lan's confused face only grew more confused. "Erm... who is Hub?"

Dr. Hikari looked at his son. "You... don't remember Hub?"

Lan shook his head, then nodded, before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, kind of... I remember someone called Hub... I don't remeber what they look like, though."

Megaman sighed. He had hoped that Lan would have remembered something, at least.

"Lan... I am Hub."

Lan blinked. "I still don't get it."

This caused everyone in the room to sigh. "Lan..." Dr. Hikari stated.

"Keep up!" Tialsia yelled out. "Megaman is Hub, Hub is Megaman. Get it?"

Lan blinked gaain. "No... not really..."

Dr. Hikari sighed, again. "What don't you get, Lan?"

"Well... thought that Hub was a human."

Megaman winced, under Lan and Mayl's stares. "Well..."

"DR. HIKARI!"

Everyone turned to the door, where two figures stood, only their silouhets visible, due to the small amount of light in the lab compared to the sudden brightness of the hallway.

"Who...?" Dr. Hikari asked slowly, unsure.

"Can't you recognize me? I'm the famous-"

"Mr. Famous, we know." Lan cut in.

Mr. Famous stepped into the light, his eye brow visibly twitching. "Well, since you know so much, can you tell me what I'm doing here, then?"

"I can answer that."

Everyone turned to the second figure, who also stepped into the light.

"Chaud..." Lan whispered, surprised to find him there.

Chaud walked over, eyes narrowed, and jacked in Protoman. "I'm here, Lan, to talk to Dr. Hikari about something."

Tialsia glared at Protoman. "Before you were just amusing, although a distraction. NOW you're more of an annoyance!"

Protoman eyed her. "Why sould I listen to the words of a fifth-rate Navi?"

Tialsia grinned, then, deciding on being annoying instead of annoyed. "Oh, well, you know... you just llllooovvveee me..."

Mayl giggled, recognizing the same tone of voice that Tialsia had been teaching her to use before.

Protoman stiffened, before preparing to attack her. "I couldn't hate you more if I tried."

Tialsia sniffed. "Now I feel unloved... but you still haven't said WHY you're here, other than to talk to Dr. Hikari. And what reason would be more important than to talk to his own son?"

Chaud simply ignored her. "Dr. Hikari... I need to talk to you in private. Although, Mr. Famous can be there as well..."

Lan bristled. "And why would you get to talk to my dad while I'm talking to him, about something important?"

Chaud simply waved his hand. "What could you possibly say that would be as important as what I have to say to him?"

Mr. Famous glanced between the two, before looking at the seemingly random lines of binary code, still on the screen. "Erm... Dr. Hikari... forgive my intrusion, but what is that?"

Chaud also looked to the data screen, as well as everyone else. Tialsia sweatdropped, before quickly closing it, and handing the data sphere over to Pap. "Now... I know you think this is useless data... BUT DON'T GET RID OF IT THIS TIME!" She prctically yelled at Pap and Dr. Hikari, before a sign saying 'Logout', and a voice proclaimed, "Tialsia, Logging out."

Protoman blinked, Chaud blinked, Mr. Famous blinked, Mayl blinked, Lan blinked, Megaman blinked, and Dr. Hikari and Pap sweatdropped. "Well... I guess we have our orders, right Pap?" Dr. Hikari asked his Navi.

"Yes sir." Came the monotone reply.

Dr. Hikari turned to Chaud and Mr. Famous. "Well? What did you find so important that you needed to talk to me, while I put off all other appointments today to talk to my son?" He asked simply, in a voice that told them he was not pleased.

Chaud rolled his eyes. "I need to talk to you about Megaman's origins."

Dr. Hikari and Pap froze, before Pap began making motions to unlock the data sphere. From Mayl's PET came Tialsia's voice, "DON'T YOU DARE! Mayl, jack me back in!"

Mayl sighed, before doing as she was asked.

Tialsia, righting herself, turned to Pap and glared. "That data sphere is for Scilab use only. No one other than Dr. Hikari, yourself, Lan, Megaman, Mayl, Haruka Hikari, and Roll... whenever we find her, and myself, I guess, are allowed to see that. Understand?"

Pap nodded slowly, before Logging out to put the Data into Dr. Hikari's PET.

Protoman glared at Tialsia. "What did you do that for?"

"Because you're not allowed to see it!"

"And who gives you the right to say who can and cannot see certain data?"

"My Net-op!"

"And who gives her permission?"

"The Four Ladies!"

Everyone blinked again, confussed. Tialsia, realizing what she said, gasped and covered her mouth. "Ooops..."

"The... Four... what? Ladies?" Mr. Famous asked slowly. The look on his face was impossible to place.

"Mr. Famous... you're heard of these 'Four Ladies'?" Chaud asked, careful to not startle the older man.

"I have heard of them, yes. However, they were said to be a rumour..." He replied, eyes locked on Tialsia. She blushed under his stare, and turned away. Megaman watched this all with thoughtful eyes.

"Well... who gives these Four Ladies permission?"

Mr. Famous looked surprised at Protoman, who had asked the question. "You... have not heard of the Four Ladies?"

Dr. Hikari shook his head. "Well, I don't think anyone here has. Care to enlighten us, Mr. Famous?"

"All I'm saying, based on their reputation among certain individuals in the Cyber Matrix and Tialsia's obvious umcomfort, is that they do not need permission. They control nearly everything."

That caused Dr. Hikari to blink. "Erm... Sorry, Mr. Famous for correcting you, but Scilab controls everything."

Mr. Famous glanced at Dr. Hikari before shaking his head. "Yes, you are right... they are simply a rumour, after all..."

Tialsia looked quite angry at this. "THEY ARE NOT RUMOURS!"

"You like yelling lately, don't you?" Megaman asked gently.

Tialsia glanced over at him, before sighing and shaking her head. "Well, you know... can't have people disrespecting them, can I?"

Megaman rolled his eyes, before looking at Lan. "I don't think we'll be able to talk about this right now. Maybe some other time. But, until then... I think I want to start actually searching for Roll, instead of research." When he noticed Tialsia's blantantly obvious annoyance, he quickly continued, "Well, I found some area of interest that I want to personally check out, and my energy levels are fully restored again."

Tialsia glanced him over again, then sighed. "Fine... but, you know, I can't have you being deleted- AGAIN- or it's my head."

Megaman sweatdropped at her choice of words. "R... right... so Lan, Mayl, what are you two going to do?"

Lan blinked at Megaman. "What... you mean that you don't want me around?"

"Erm... well... it's not-" Megaman tried to cover for himself, before stopping at Lan's grin.

"Don't worry, Megaman. I'll keep Lan busy." Mayl told him, before immediately afterwards pinching Lan's ear and dragging him away from everyone else, and out of the room. Megaman, Tialsia, Pap and Dr. Hikari all sweatdropped at this.

Mr. Famous shook his head. "Well, this 'Roll' thing has become quite big on the net- you can hardly go anywhere without hearing about it. I'll help you in your search, Megaman, as much as I can." After finishing his speach, Mr. Famous soon followed Lan and Mayl's tracks out of the lab, leaving Dr. Hikari and Chaud alone in the lab- of course, we can't forget about the net navis, too.

"Dr. Hikari... why are Megaman's origins so... hidden?" Chaud asked, as he jacked out Protoman from the main computer. His only response was Dr. Hikari shaking his head.

"I would prefwer if Lan found out first, Chaud. Then it will be at his discretion, and Megaman's as well, to tell others. I'm not about to go behind my sons' back, that much I can tell you."

Chaud glanced at him, before nodding and leaving the room.

As of then, it was Dr. Hikari, Pap, Megaman and Tialsia left in the room. Dr. Hikari turned to the screen.

"Alright, Tialsia... although I can't tell Lan right now, I might as well answer any questions you have about T.N.P., as you already seem to know nearly everything.

Tialsia shook her head slowly. "No, sir, I don't. I know that Megaman was Hub, and that he 'died' at the age of two due to HBD. I don't know anything past that, though."

Dr. Hikari sighed. "Do you want me to really tell you everything?"

Tialsia shrugged. "Just the basics. I know you don't want to go around Lan's back- but I have permission from your other son, the one involved, Hub-" as she said this, she grabbed Megaman and put him in a head lock "-aka Megaman."

Megaman struggled to get out of the hold, which Tialsia kept almost uncomfortably tight. Dr. Hikari grinned. "Well... you seem to be trustworthy enough. But, I don't have a lot of time- nwo that Lan and Mayl have left, people will be swarming in here."

"So... what's T.N.P.?"

He sighed. "You just had to ask THAT question, didn't you?" However, the smile still remained on his face, as he began explaining it. "T.N.P. standing for, simply, The Navi Project- to outsiders, anyways. It was originally an acronym for 'Temporal Nettoshiteru... well, there were many suggestions between myself and my two collegues who worked on Megaman... or Hub... with me. I forget who suggested what, but some ideas for the 'P' were Pathology, Parturition, Penumbra, Peremptory, Phenomena, Plenary, Plenipotentiarius, Pluperfection, Preternatural, Prophylactics, but the final term was Pseudomorphics, taken from the word Pseudomorphous, which means fake transformation.

"With that in mind, the definition of T.N.P. is pretty simple to understand: Temporal- relating to time, meaning this was a timed and very carefully done opperation, and refers to it's delicateness; Nettoshiteru, the Japanese word for Network, simply refers that this project has to do with the digital plane; and Pseudomorphics, which indicates that a transformation which should not have happened, well... happened. Are you following?"

Tialsia blinked. "Wow... so much thought over a name, which baisically describes everything... but... you DO realize what some of those other words you wanted to chose mean, right?"

Dr. Hikari laughed. "Yes... we made sure to look up the definitions. The Old Languages are quite useful when coming up with names, aren't they?"

Tialsia nodded. "Yes, quite. And English is quite simple- you arrange letters in whatever order, with at least one vowel in them, and viola- you have a name, or a word, or... well, something."

Megaman, who had been in Tialsia's chokehold the entire time, finally broke free and gasped. "If... you two don't... mind... I'll be going to start my search..."

Tialsia nodded, as did Dr. Hikari. Pap just stood in Dr. Hikari's PET, not saying anything. "Sure, Hub- but be careful."

Megaman waved his hand carelessly as he stepped into a link to bring him closer to Scilab Square. "I will, don't worry. Besides- if I need help, I'll e-mail someone, or just yell for Lan."

Tialsia sighed as the blue bomber disapeared. "Well... I'll say this for him... he's energetic."

Dr. Hikari laughed. "Yes, he is. Anything else you would like to know?"

"Well, actually-"

"DR. HIKARI!"

Tialsia sighed. "What is up with people yelling that today, and cutting other peoples off?"

Dr. Hikari grinned, before looking at the door, where a very harrased secretary was standing, her hair no longer all neat, and her clothes seemed to be ripped, or at least a little dirty.

"What happened?" Dr. Hikari asked, stunned by her appearance.

"The... the..."

"The what?" Tialsia asked, annoyed how she was acting.

"People... in the waiting room..."

The doctor and the Navi froze for a moment- before Tialsia burst out laughing. "How can a group of people do that to you? Aren't there guards?"

"DR. HIKARI!"

That was not the secretary, nor was it a lab assisstant. Even Tialsia could feel the floor starting to shake, as a stampeed of impatient people were running down it, trying to be into Dr. Hikari first to speak with him.

The doctor and the navi exchanged glances, before Tialsia grinned. "Sorry to leave them to you, Doc, but... I have some... business. Yeah, that's right, business, to take care of, so... um... bye!"

Tialsia logged out immediately afterwards, leaving Dr. Hikari, the secretary, and Pap to control the wave of people.

"Great... this is going to be another one of those days..." Dr. Hikari muttered, as the people started shoving each other to get into the door.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Blah blah blah... oh, soooo bored!"

Tialsia was currently taking a nice, leisurely stroll through a more secluded part of the net, where no viruses or navis usually went, as it was baisically just a giant, flat area, with nothing special about it. "And why am I here, anyways?" Tialsia asked aloud, as though there was someone who could answer her.

Sadly, the author cannot speak to the characters in the story. As such, Tialsia recieved no answer- and instead began to talk to herself, trying to figure out what to do.

"Hmm... what to do now? Maybe I should go back to the Hall... or Fae-chan's HP, or-"

"Or maybe you should stop talking to yourself."

Tialsia, awoken (rather rudely) from her musings, spun around to find Protoman standing there, looking quite relaxed, arms crossed over his chest, with a small viewing screen behind him with Chaud's head being displayed in it.

"What?!"

Chaud smirked. "If you don't stop talking to yourself, people might think that you're mentally unstable. However, that doesn't seem to be too hard to prove."

Tialsia glared at the two. "What... what do you WANT?!"

Chaud blinked, while Protoman simply uncrossed his arms. "Someone's a bity thouchy." Chaud commented. Tialsia responded with a growl.

"I don't hate you, Eugene Chaud- but you and your Navi, Protoman are REALLY starting to get annoying."

Chaud shrugged, while Protoman remained emotionless.

"So, Tilaisa- what were you talking to Dr. Hikari about?"

"As if it's any of your business."

Chaud didn't say anything, while Protoman stood up straight and engaged his default weapons program, his sword appearing on his right arm.

"It is, actually. If we are working together to find Roll, then I think that we should all be sharing information, not hiding it. Don't you?"

Tialsia began to back away as Protoman advanced on her. "Sorry, but what we were talking about has nothing to do with Roll. And now I shall take my leave." She took a large leap backwards, before arching her back and doing a backwards summersault (while still in the air), so that her head was pointing towards the ground. Aiming at a spot with her hands, she concentrated some energy, and sent it blasting into the ground. A large could of smoke quickly enveloped the whole area, causing Protoman and Chaud to loose track of her.

"Where... did she go? Protoman?"

"I don't know, Chaud- I can't see anything."

When the smoke finally did clear, the entire area looked like Tialsia had never been there.

"What the hell is that...?"

Except for a large symbol on the ground, with was glowing blue. It seemed to almost pulse, and radiate energy and power. Strange symbols were scattered throughtout the symbol, but were most concentrated in the swirls and circles which surrounded a large, central circle, where a simple star was engraved.

The star had two long points, and two shorter points, with lines drawn through them to make them look three dimensional. Inbetween each of the points was another, smaller, and shorter piece. In the very middle of the star was another circle, and another circle inside of that, with more of the strange characters ranged around the small area between the two. Inside of the second circle was a simple symbol- almost a full circle, with two area erased on one side, and a small circle in the middle.

Slowly, the glowing, pulsing and raditating tappered off, until all that was left was the design, midnight black in color. Protoman looked at it, as did Chaud.

"Wow... the large central circle alone could easily fit six Gutsmans laying down, head to foot, with about half a foot between them across the diameter." Protoman commented, while examing the symbol.

"Weird... oh well. Come on, Protoman- we need to get back to work."

"Yes, Chaud."

**Protoman Logging Out**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Aw, come on!"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"I-"

"NO."

"Please-"

"I said NO, Lan Hikari, and don't you dare question me!"

Lan winced away from Mayl- or as far away from her as he could.

"Why won't you even let me speak?"

"Because you're going to ask some stupid question."

"You'll never know if I am or not if you don't hear me out!"

A sigh. "Fine." Mayl turned to face him- as much as she could. "What are you going to ask me?"

"Can you PLEASE let go of my ear?!"

Mayl blinked, realizing that she still had her death grip on Lan's ear, even after they got off the train at ACDC. "Er..." she let him go, sweatdropping. "Sorry about that, Lan."

He rubbed his ear, before grinning at her. "Eh, no problem. So... what do you want to do?"

Mayl sighed, before looking around. "Well, while we're here, do you want to go to the park?"

Lan grinned and nodded. "Yeah, why not. Race you!" He called, as she started to skate over to the nearest entrance.

Mayl laughed, getting out her scooter, and giving chase. "You had a head start!"

Both eventually reached the park- and further into it. For, after realizing that Mayl was right- Lan did have a head start- he also realized that she would probably start pinching his ear again- which is not something that he really wanted to happen- the moment that she caught him.

With that thought driving him on, Lan continued his semi-leisurely pace going deeper into the park, where it became more like a forest.

"Lan! Are you going to wait for me, or are you going to make me drag you around again?!" Mayl shouted from barely ten feet behind him.

Lan turned to face her, skating backwards, and grinned. "You'll drag me around for the rest of today, anyways, so why- OOF!"

Mayl stopped, and, sweatdropping, also started to giggle. "Very nice swan dive... I give it a 10."

"Ha ha Mayl. Help me up?"

Mayl sighed before bending down beside Lan, who was now on the ground, having tripped while going backwards. "Why am I helping you again?"

Lan blinked at her as he raised his head. "Well, it's-"

They both stopped, when they realized that they were barely a foot away from each other, and their eyes met. Both were instantly reminded about that morning's incident, and, both blushing, quickly tried to back away from each other.

However, if there's one thing about Lan that we have learned- at least since what is now dubbed the "bathroom incident' from chapter 7, it' that Lan is amazing clumsy at times, especially when flustered. So, therefore, cue some tripping, shouting, and a large CRASH, and then look at how Mayl somehow ended up sprawled on top of Lan.

"God... Lan... how clumsy can you be?"

Lan blinked in response. "But... you're the one laying on me..."

Mayl proceeded to also blink, before blushing and standing up. "Well... do you want help up, or not?"

Lan gulped at the look on Mayl's face, before extending his hand up to her. She took it, and hauled him up, steadying him while he took off his roller blades.

Eventually, they both found a bench to sit down on, and relaxed- or, well, as much as they could, since the latest incident, and the bathroom incident were still fresh in their minds.

"So..."

"Erm..."

((((A/N: I know, kill me now. But first, you must know this! Erm, THIS: I happen to have a 'disease' that my friends have labbeled influential writing. Apparently, I read a well-written story, I write my story well. I read a... not as well written story, and I write REALLY bad. Apparently. If this proves it, I wrote the section above from _"With that thought driving him on"_ till... well, just above this note. Forgive my stupidity... I completely forget what I originally had planned for this scene. Gomen gomen gomen nasai! Anyways, back to the most random part of any story I have ever written!))))

Both sat on the bench, under the shade of a Chinese Maple Tree, the sunlight, after being filtered through the leaves, red on their faces and bodies. Lan, deciding to focus on something else other than his last train of thought, tilted his head to look up through the branches.

"You know, Mayl... I've never been to this part of the park before. It's really nice in here, don't you think?"

Mayl turned her head slightly to look at Lan. "Well, yeah... I guess... but... it's so quiet... it reminds of that trip we took with Sal into the forest. Remember?"

Lan smiled. "Yeah... that was fun... we should do it again sometime."

Mayl grinned, before turning her head to look straight forward. "Lan... do you have any idea what Megaman, Dr. Hikari and Tialsia were talking about?"

Lan sighed. "Kind of... but I really don't understand it..."

Mayl blinked. "What do you 'kind of' know, then?"

"Well... for some reason, I always remember someone named 'Hub'. I guess it was from when I was really young, but I still remember them. And they were around me constantly." When Mayl looked at him, surprised, Lan shruged, his head still looking towards the sky. "I really don't know, but that's just what I remember."

Mayl sighed. "This is confusing." She eyed him again. "Lan... if you had the chance to find out more, would you stop looking for Ro-"

"Of course not!" Lan nearly exploded. Mayl turned to face him fully then, shocked. He saw her reaction, and sighed, bowing his head. "I mean... even if that thought ever crossed my mind, which it hasn't, Megaman probably wouldn't let me stop looking, anyways. He even refuses to Net Battle, prefering to save up his energy for looking for Roll."

Mayl blinked, then grinned. She leaned over slightly, so that her head barely rested on Lan's shoulder. "I... I'm glad. Thank you, Lan."

Lan, having stiffened when Mayl leaned against him, allowed his body to slowly relax, before gently looping his arms around Mayl, pulling her into a gentle hug. "There's no need to thank me. I would end up looking for Roll, even if you two were our greatest enemies, probably."

Mayl grinned, burrying her face into his chest, and breathing in his unnatural scent. "If only for a Netbattle..."

Lan looked down at her, before gently smiling and closing his eyes. "If only..."

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Megaman continued walking down the street, looking this way and that. He easily felt another presence around him- after being in the research area for so long, it felt weird to be out in the open, without his opperator, and no one he knew around him.

A sudden shiver went down his spine- he was being watched, no doubt about it.

"Who's there?"

He glanced around, trying to find who was stalking him. After seeing no one, he continued his walk, albeit a little more cautiously- and quickly.

"Megaman..." he blinked and looked around. He knew that voice... but who...?

"Oh, Megaman..."

He looked up in time to see what appeared to be a blond pony tail with a green bow at the end turn away from the edge of one of the buildings beside him and run away. He was about to turn away as well when he realized something.

_Blonde hair... green bow... wait..._ "ROLL!"

He quickly jumped up to the roof to see the figure bounding away over the roof tops. Making up his decision, he followed her, and was somehow able to gain quite a bit of ground. Megaman, although not paying attention to where he was going, knew that they passed through at least one warp point. However, that wasn't about to stop him.

He had just seen her jump down from the roofs, and he was far closer to her than he had expected.

_Maybe she's waiting for me...?_

He followed her as well, calling out at intervals "Roll!" to try to get her attention. The chase continued to move from streets to roofs, and back to streets, once in a while going through a building or a densely populated area, and he would almost loose her.

However, when that would happen, he would turn a corner and there would be the tell-tale blonde hair and green ribbon.

Soon, the chase ended in a dark part of the net. Megaman knew that they had gone through one large warp, but wasn't sure entirely where they were. Regardless, she stood with her back to him, looking around at the three walls facing her, as though looking for a way out.

"Roll... is that you?"

She stiffened, unsure of what to say. However, just as she tensed, as though trying to get away, Megaman made a lunge for her, and knocked them both to the floor. It was then he finally got a good look at her face.

Blushing, he back off her- her eyes were a striking orange, not the green that Roll's were. "I'm sorry... I thought you were someone else..."

She shrugged it off. Other than the eye color, her entire body suit was the same as Roll's- but still, if you really looked at it, then you could tell that they were not the same navis.

"It's alright... I was wondering why you were chasing me..."

Megaman grinned, getting to his feet. _What is with me and finding lots of female allies... well, aquantinces lately? _He extended a hand to her, to help her up.

"So, what's your name?"

She blinked, but then grinned. "My name..."

Suddenly, her entire appearance shifted so that she seemed to be a completely different person. Her armor became mostly black, with orange highlights, gloves, boots, and the color laced through the basic color. Her gentle smile became a smirk, and her grip tightened so that Megaman could not let go of her hand, which he was still holding onto.

"...is Sunset."

He blinked at her, unsure of what to make, when he felt another presence behind him. He wanted to turn around, but her couldn't seem to draw himself away from those piercing, orange eyes.

"Want me to take it from here, Sunset?"

"Why not, Rouge?"

Megaman felt the navi named Rouge stand right behind him, before he felt her arms wrapping gently around his neck.

"Not a bad specimen... we'll just take you to a place where there's no worries, no pain- just pleasureable existance, Megaman. Don't worry- you'll get to see your friends again soon. But in the meantime..."

She had whispered those words into his ear, and his eyes widened as he felt Rouge's body against his own. Sunset let go of his hand, as he felt himself completely unable to move, trapped in a spell or program or something as he felt them both fall backwards into a dark blue vortex.

And, although if he were a simple navi, he would have found this whole experience quite fun, he couldn't help but worry- _Now what have I gotten myself into?_

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Gustman threw the file he was reading against the wall. "Gutsman not like this- Gutsman want go find Roll!"

Iceman walked over to Gutsman, and patted the huge arm reasurringly. "Come on, Gutsman. We have to figure out where to look for her first, before we can actually look for her."

"Alright..." Gutsman replied, defeated. However, that didn't stop him from glaring at all the files. He was about to declare war against the entire Hall when a very tired-looking Tialsia walked up some floors from far below.

Although at first she just looked how she usually did after doing some hard-core virus busting, there was something else about her that made everyone draw their attention. And it wasn't just that Risuko was supporting her.

"Tialsia? What's wrong?" Iceman asked, worry laced through his voice.

She shook her head. "I just... man, that was not fun..."

Glyde, confused as to her meaning, stepped forward. "I beg your pardon, Tialsia, but if I may inquire as to what you are talking about...?"

She grinned. "Let's just say that if you see Protoman, don't tell him that you've seen me."

A round of random blinking followed this, and Risuko sighed and shook his head. "You wear yourself out too much- you and your Net-op. Let the rest of us hel-"

"No, Risuko. You're offered countless times, but everyone here is busy doing what they usually do. There's no reason to worry unless we know for sure that Roll-chan is deleted, or another one goes missing."

Now, have you ever heard of bad timing? Yes? Its usually when someone barges in on something you don't want them to see, or your history teacher 'forgets' to tell you to take down notes about a movie you're watching becuase you're going to write an Expository essay of WWII afterwards, and she so conviently remembers to tell you AFTER you finish watching the video.

Well, here's a prime example of it:

A sudden beeping noise came from somewhere around Tialsia, and she opened a window, revealing someone who couldn't be older than 13. Her blonde hair was slightly past her shoulders, and curved outwards at the end. Streaks of bright red ran through her hair, and she had two large, thick gold hoops in her ears. A small pendant dangled from both hoops, and on her right ear a serries of what looked like onyx- and opal-covered clips connected by a gold chain of links snaked their way up her ear.

"Tialsia!"

Tialsia groaned, and turned around to the girl. And gasped when she saw the formal and yet strange robes the girl had on. "Fæ-chan?! What are you doing back at-"

"There's no time! Tialsia, the scanners here show that... well... he's not... erm..."

Tialsia frowned. "Who's not what? Fæ-chan, really, spit it out..."

The girl now identified as Fæ-chan, took a deep shuddering breath, and was about to continue when Protoman ran up the stairs. "There you are! Now, you are going to- erm... hello...?"

Suddenly, all the Net-ops appeared on screens by their Navis. "Wha... Glyde? What's going on?"

Glyde turned to Yai. "I have no idea, Ms., but maybe Tialsia could shed some light on it..."

Tialsia glared at everyone, before ending up at Chaud. "You! Geese, are you stalking me or something?!"

Chaud glared at her. "If you must know, yes, until you answer our question!"

"Why you..."

"TIALSIA!"

That brought everyone out of their argument, or watching the argument, to stare at the blonde girl. Tialsia, in fact, looked amazedly startled. "Fæ-chan... what?"

Fæ-chan was now practically in tears, and something was obviously upsetting her. Quersoæn looked surprised at the girl, and her heart went out to her.

"I've been trying to tell you..."

She left off, not wanting to finish what she was saying, and what it could mean for everyone.

"Fæ-chan..." Tialsia whispered, getting as close to the screen as she allowed herself to.

After a moment of silence, another voice was heard from the screen. "Fædellë? What's wrong, child?"

Fæ-chan looked up in surprise, and exclaimed, "Peorth-sama!"

Almost immediately after, an older woman, wearing not very much in the war of clothing, appeared on the screen. Her dark brown hair was cut short around her face, while it grew longer down her back. She held a rose in her hand, and behind was what appeared to be an angel, blonde hair with wings included.

Tialsia and Risuko bowed to the new arrival(s).

Peorth looked at the screen, grinned and waved her hand. "Now now... no need to be so formal... but Fæ-chan... what's wrong?"

The other girl nearly collpased into the elder's arms, fear written on her face.

"P... Peorth-sama... they... he..."

"He who, Fæ?" Tialsia asked gently.

"H...Hub!"

That caused nearly everyone to freeze. Tialsia got over it quickly though- she had to be strong for her Net-op.

"What about Hub, Fæ?"

"He... he just... dissapeared, right off the screens! The scanners! It's like he doesn't even exist, and like he never has!"

Tialsia's eyes widened, as did Peorth's.

"We'll get a scan going on this right away. Alright Fæ?" She asked kindly.

Fæ nodded slowly as she let go of Peorth. Tialsia suddenly never wanted anything more than to be able to be beside her Net-op at that moment. And then she thought of something.

"Fæ... what did it look like when he dissapeared?"

Fæ looked straight at Tialsia, before letting her eyes cast around the crowd that had gathered. She sighed, before turning back to her Navi.

"It... was so weird. He was there, and then there was a weird energy burst- and then he was gone."

"Was the energy burst like-"

"No, Peorth-sama. It was not."

"Alright, Fæ. Would you mind going to see X, Ere and Chrono? We'll want them to get on this right away."

"Yes, Peorth-sama." She wipped the last of her tears of fear out of her eyes, before taking off for whoever X, Ere and Chrono were.

Peorth and Tialsia exchanged looks. "Tialsia?" The older woman asked her, kindly.

"Yes, Peorth-sama?"

"Do you think this is like-"

Tialsia's eyes widened. "Like Roll?" A nod was her only response. Rushing to the stack of files behind her, Tialsia quickly leafed through until she found Megaman's file.

Opening it quickly, she turned to the very back to the file. "'...dissappeared at 10:48:03...' Peorth-sama..."

Quiet reigned over the hall, before Tialsia made up her mind. While Protoman, Gylde, Quersoæn, Iceman, Gutsman and their Net-ops looked on, she flipped to what appeared to be a random page. Placing her hand over it, she pinched at air with her fingers, and lifted away from the file.

A transparent file came out of it, and floated in the air before for a second before becoming solid. Tialsia quickly opened, and looked again through the much thicker file than the public file. "Erm... Peorth-sama... it says... well, it's..."

"What, Tialsia?" Chaud was getting impatient.

"It says... he was taken... to the Undernet..."

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Kay:** Mrah ha ha! Who's evil?! I'M EVIL! HA! Ya see, I was going to draw this out longer, and do other stuff along those lines, but I decided to incorporate it in a completely different way. Who would have thought that I would actually read through three different dictionaries- Websters, Roger's, and Scholastic- to find some words that began with 'P' that would fit what I was looking for. That would be why they're basically in alphabetical order...

**Shila:** Yes yes yes... shouldn't you be working on your Portfolio?

**Kay:** I have till seven. No rush. I'm almost done, anyways. And desides- this had to be up tonight if I'm to stick to my schedule that I made up. At least one update, every Saturday!

**Shila:** Right... so, what' up with putting stuff on 'hiatus?'

**Kay:** Eh? Oh, well, I want to finish Running, Secrets, and Fate asap. Of course, I'm almost done chappie 2 of fate- as soon as I finish 3, I'm done (YEAH!). That story, as fun as it is, is a pain- I only want three chapters (it was originally supposed to be a one-shot), but ya know, that means super-long chapters. Longer than this, and it's... I think this is 7999 words long... mreh.

**Shila:** So, everything else is on hiatus?

**Kay:** Yup, and Dark Happenings especially, since I kinda lost all will to write that a while ago. I'll randomly update Tributes or Random Songs if I feel that I've gone too long without updating.

**Shila:** Right... what's up with that, anyways?

**Kay**: YAMI IS COOL! Well, Yami's cape and hair is cool. And his eyes. Pretty, pretty eyes...

**Shila:** Right...

_**SONG**_

Well, this song shall be Angelus , aka the last opening theme for Inuyahsa. Gah, I absolutely HATE the last episode! It's not even an ending! It's like... ya know how sometimes people go ridding off into the sunset, like in one of those old westerns? Well, it's Kagome on Inu's back, Sango, Shippo and Miroku on Kirara, and they do the EXTACT SAME THING! And THEN, while in the westerns, the bad guys are defeated, in this, the bad guys are NOT defeated! They're still around, and more powerful than ever! So what are we waiting for?! GET THE 4TH MOVIE OUT, DARN IT! Although, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd movies are good, too...

So, yeah, it's Angelus! And it's kinda funny... like a Japanese tango or something... and it has part of my name in it! Oh, do I feel special! TA-DAH!

_**QUOTES**_

"This is your left arm, ya know... do you want it back?" (Tee-hee... Takemaru from the 3rd Inuyasha movie... talking, well fighting, with Sess... tee-hee!)

**-----------------------------------------------(I)End Log(I)-----------------------------------------**


	9. Pains

**_Title:_** Secrets of the Undernet

**_Chapter 9_**: Pains

**_Disclaimer:_** Kay-fuzz don't own. CAPCOM owns. CAPCOM shall die by Kay-fuzz's hands... or at least the translators. Kay-fuzz own story idea (this story). Kay-fuzz do not own other random cameos, either. Random cameos owned by other companies. Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad.

**_Summary:_** After agreeing to a trade with a mysterious Navi, Roll finds herself stuck in the Undernet. Can she uncover it's secrets before she's trapped forever? LanMayl, MegaRoll (near the end... kinda hard to do a romance when they're not together, ne?)

**_Warning:_** Contains insanity. One of the prolouge stories for Warp Fusion. Not quite sure what else it contains right now, but it will have some spoilers for what happens in the games/anime/manga (ish), and the history, which we NEVER find out about in the anime... which is really disappointing, but mreh.

_**Re-cap (last chap):**_ We found out a little bit about TNP- or at least what it stands for. Protoman annoys Tialsia, Eria and the Dark Ladies make their first move, Megaman disappears, and everyone at least sees Mega's private folder. And now we find out what happens!

_**Spoilers:**_ Maybe a bit more info on TNP. Some info on before TNP.

**_Rating:_** PG-13

**_Song:_** The World is Black by Good Charlotte

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

There was something by his head. Well, other than his hair- which was annoying anyways when he wasn't wearing his helmet, which he took off maybe… once in the last five, six years? But, he was pretty sure that his helmet was still on. And he was pretty sure that no one knew that it could even come off.

So, what could possibly be tickling the back of his head? Well, there would have to be some room between his head and his helmet for it to come off. Not enough for someone to fit their fingers in between, but still....

He groaned, rolling over. Whatever was poking his head was gone now, but it was replaced by a strange weight in his heart. He groaned again, before trying to open his eyes. However, they seemed to be glued shut, and, as much as he tried to move any more, he found it impossible. His whole body lay stiff, face down on what he assumed was the floor.

"Aw, is the poor blue boy unable to move?"

He groaned, recognizing the voice as the one of the Navi that had taken him here. Unable to reply, she continued on.

"Now now, Mega-san. You shouldn't strain yourself. You've been unconcious for a while now. You're just lucky that I wasn't left here with you permanently."

Well, as disturbing as her words were, one thing was certain- at least he could hear.

He felt a weight on his back, and two more pressure points just below his shoulders. He wasn't completely sure what was going on- his mind was still fuzzy, and, after checking all his programming, he realized that he was just taking his time rebooting from being knocked out.

"Now... do me a favour and fall back asleep. You must be so tired..."

Falling quickly under the other Navi's spell, his head fell again, releasing him from the strain of the world.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

There was absolutely no noise in the Hall. No one was sure how to react to the news that Megaman was missing. A select few were even less sure on how to react to the news that the blue bomber also apparently went by the name 'Hub'.

And all of them weren't sure how to react to the fact that what HAD to be Megman's personal, private, as in no-one-can-access-without-permission-from-party-that-the-file-is-about file was in so obvious a place.

And Chaud, with Protoman and Risuko pretty close behind him, was steaming.

However, as angry as Chaud was, Risuko had a much better reason- and therefore was first to regain sense enough to speak.

"Now I have to find another place for that file! You yourself that 'hidding in plainn sight' was the best way to go!"

Tialsia only scoffed. "Who cares about that now, Risuko. Both Megaman and Roll are missing. Therefore, if these people know anything about anything, then the order will continue, and next it'll be-"

"But that's not possible, Tialsia!" The... not exactly 'properly' dressed woman in the viewing screen said as her dark brown hair fell into her face, and the strange angel-like being behind her leaned forward as well, the vines surrounding her body moving to continue to cover those sensitive areas.

"For that to happen, there would need to be a merging of the carbon-compound and the digital sectors!"

Tialsia sighed. "I know."

"Wait wait wait." Yai spoke from her screen, as she asked a question that had been bothering many people watching. "What do you mean that the carbon-compound and digital sectors would have to merge? Wouldn't that mean that where we, humans, live, and the net get fused together?!"

THAT got a reaction out of many Navis and Net-ops, most of which saying that it was physically impossible.

Risuko shook his head as he walked over to Tialsia. "Come now, milady. There has been far too much stress on you. Peorth-sama, may we have your leave to go?"

Peorth looked as though she was about to agree, before a noise, obviously coming from Peorth's vid-screen, caught everyone's attention.

A small, black-haired girl ran into the room, looking obviously distraught. "Peorth!!!!!!!"

The elder woman smiled gently at the girl. "Yes, Skuld?"

"Be... Bell... Belldandy..."

That caught Peorth's attention. "What about Belldandy, Skuld?"

Skuld sniffed once more before bawling, her words completely undecipherable to those who were listening to her through the net. However, Peorth seemed to catch the gist of it, as she turned quickly to the screen, and spoke directly to Tialsia as Skuld ran out of the room, pulling a large mallet off her back and looking quite dangerous.

"Sorry, Te... seems like Belldandy just got herself stuck with a mortal guy, and Skuld, and Urd, apparently, aren't too happy about it."

Tialsia sighed. "We had a feeling this would happen. Peorth-sama, can we count on Yggdrasil's help, or are we going to have to fend for ourselves?"

Peorth sighed. "Only your Net-op, Fæ-chan, will be able to really help you. With Belldandy not here to help opperate the system, it will be only myself, and two new first-class type 2 unlimteds here to manage things. And we still won't have enough energy to keep it working at full strength for a while. We'll leave a connection open, and send Fæ-chan back, with a direct-link terminal, as soon as she finishes her new training. She'll teach you the basics of Gunir there. So, I guess no one will be able to help you, but you'll have access to the system."

Tialsia nodded her assent. "Thank you, then, for that much help, Peorth-sama."

Peorth shook her head, and sighed. "Help is something we give freely. There is no need for thanks."

With that, the screen closed, and Tialsia turned to Risuko. "Okay... who else here knows about Yggdrasil?"

Risuko shrugged. "No one, as far as I know. I never thought that there would be a need to educated these mortals about Yggdrasil, Tialsia. Besides, no one I ever saw come here had the right qualifications to be an agent."

This caused Tialsia to sigh. "Fine. Since it seems like we'll just be the infromers this time round, What are we going to do then, Protoman?"

The red raider was surprised to say the least. "What do you mean, what are we going to do?"

"Yeah! What's going on?!" Tori, Yai and Dex yelled through their com links.

"Weren't you listening?" Tialsia had an obvious stress sign on her helmet.

"No." Was Dex's reply.

"He means yes." Yai cut in quickly.

"But what happened? It doesn't make any sense to us... 'mortals', I think you called us." Tori asked, a sceptical look on his face.

"And what do meanby that, anyways?" Chaud asked, nearly as stressed as hisNavi.

"Grrr... you really don't understand the situation?! Then here's the recap!" Tialsia yelled out. "One: Roll is missing. Two: Megaman is now missing. Three:Both are recorded missing in the same way- the records 'loose track of subject', or something to that effect. Four: Yggdrasil is basically off-line,until my Net-op, Fæ-chan, comes back with a remote terminal. Then we might be able to find out some more info.Until then, we need a leader. And I volunteered Protoman and Chaud!"

Everyone blinked. "Right... so, what?"

Tialsia sighed. "Just talk to Protoman and Chaud."

Everyone's attention was now turned on the duo- and neither knew what to say.

"Er...?"

Tialsia sighed. "If you need anything, I'm going to the Undernet to-"

"No, you are not. You are going to go back to your Home Page, recharge, and strengthen all the firewalls, security blocks, change the passcodes, and talk to Fæ-chan - if you can get ahold of her. Tialsia, we already have enough people missing. No Undernet unless we have someone with resonable levels with you." Risuko told her as he grabbed her shoulders and began pushing her out of the room.

Quersoæn was quick to follow Risuko. "I'll go with her. Besdies, someone will need to be able to get to your hp, Tialsia, to let you know of any updates."

Tialsia nodded, and let Quersoæn now guide her away.

Soon after, everyone turned back to Chaud and Protoman, who had been talking, thinking of their next stretegy. "Alright. Since it seems that who ever is doing this is only after the Navis, then I would suggest that all Navis stick together in groups. At least three to a group- and maximum of ten, as we don't want to interupt the everyday functions and Navis." Chaud said aloud.

Although many looked thouroughly annoyed that he was giving them orders, they decided to follow what Tialsia, and, as such, Chaud and Protoman, said.

The red raider continued where his Net-op had left off. "Quersoæn will remain here, collection information. Everything will be reported back to Tialsia at her home page daily, and Quersoæn will return to me the next morning with any information that Tialsia was able to understand from all of your reports. Anything weird or strange must be reported, even if it's just a small gruop of viruses."

Yai glanced at Chaud through their vid-screens. "So, who will you be partnered up with?"

Chaudshrugged. "We still need someone going through the files here. As long as you are in the Hall, then there is no need to be in groups.Protoman shall remain here, also talking and gathering information. From what sense Tialsia makes, Quersoæn's opinion, and anything else we can get from other sources, including other countries, allies, and our own ideas, we'll make plans for each day, and tell each group what has been covered, and needs to be covered."

There was some grumbling throughout all the Navis that had gathered there. A small, yellow Navi that looked far more customized than some of the others there (for those who have played MMBN 3: Blue version, ya know that yellow chick that keeps going on about not having her long sword, and you have to give it to her to continue with the prelims? Yeah, her) spoke up.

"Er... where will be some safe spots? I have a horrible memory..."

There was some discussion between not only Chaud and Protoman, but also Yai, Glyde, Tori, Iceman, Dex, Gutsman, and Risuko about this, before Protoman addressed everyone one last time.

"The safe spots, if you run into trouble, will be the sqaures, Net City Colisseum, Megaman's home page, here, and, if we can get it out of her, Tialsia's home page." The lastsafe spot caused an anxious look to appear on Risuko's face, and excited looks on the others.

"With so many firewalls and saftey precautions, Tialsia's hp will probably be the safest! Besideshere of course..." The yellowNavi called out, as a sigh of relief swept through everyone.

Soon, groups of Navis were telling Glyde, Iceman, and Risuko who they were working with, and where they would be searching, the three wondering if they could get some help. The yellow navi volunteered to also stay behind, to do research and help keep track of things, and Gutsman just stood there, unsure of how to help.

Protoman and Chaud had since disappeared to check out a few of their 'contacts' before they submitted themselves to sitting around in the Hall, doing research, and waiting for information.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Quersoæn gasped in wonder. Infront of her was what looked like a giant, golden ring, twirling slowly, a hazy white mist inside of it. Placed on a strange octagonal symbol on the floor, two small golden loops were on the top and bottom, securing the spinning ring in place.

Tialsia was, by this time, really tired out. She had never realized how annoying those swarms of viruses had been, as she never really accessed her web page by the net. Now, however, those same viruses would gladly let either herself or Quersoæn to pass, after a bit of reprograming.

Leaning on Quersoæn, Tialsia looked the other Navi over. Also tired, but obviously amazed by the beautiful glowing ring infront of her, Tialsia was glad to see that the purple and green Navi had gotten over her fright of a few moments ago.

_'Maybe using an imitation of Gospel wasn't such a good idea... or Planetman... or those huge swarms of nearly every kind of virus...'_

"Hey, Tialsia..."

Drawn out of her thoughts, Tialsia was surprised by how entranced Quersoæn looked. "Yes, Quersoæn?"

"Where does this go? It doesn't feel like it leads to another part of the net..."

Tialsia grinned. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!"

"Do you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course!"

"And do you promise to not get freaked out by how weird my home page is, and how it interacts with you?"

Quersoæn blinked, unsure of how to respond. "Well, yeah... of course!"

Tialsia's gentle grin turned into one of pure evil. "Then be prepared... here we go!"

Launching the two straight up in the air, Tialsia approached the Gate not sideways, but straight from the top. Suddenly, the two were in the weirdest link that Quersoæn had ever been in before. Instead of the usual numbers and data streams floating past, they seemed to be in a black void. Tialsia grinned, letting go of Quersoæn as she felt all her energies being replenished.

Quersoæn went through a similar feeling, only much different. It felt as though her very body was coming apart, her eyes closing due to the pain. A gentle voice by her ear told her, "Don't worry. Give it a minute or two. Then we'll be there."

Accepting this, Quersoæn lived through the pain- her eyes still scrunched against it. Just as it began to rapidly fade, she felt a sudden surge of power and energy, before being roughly depositied on the ground of Tialsia's home page, falling to her knees as she struggled to stand upright.

When she did however, she still did not open her eyes- not until she was sure that Tialsia was there.

A hand on her elbow proved that the other Navi had, indeed, made it through with her. "Now that you've been through it once, it won't be as painful the next time going either way, and the next time will hurt even less, until you just get used to it."

Quersoæn nodded, refsuing to open her eyes, but for a different reason. "My... my net-op... I can't feel him..."

"Him?"

Quersoæn nodded, scared. "Where are we?"

She dimly heard a sigh. "Unless your net-op is actually here, then you cannot contact him. This place was a special hide-away for many who did not want any contact with the outside world. Only way in or out is that Gate, and the process you just went through strips all communication modules from one's body."

Wondering if that was the pain she felt, Quersoæn put forth the question.

"Yes and no. That was part of the pain- but not the only pain. If you actually open your eyes, then you might be able to see what I mean." Tialsia's voice had a trace of laughter in it, which infuriated Quersoæn.

Just as she was about to open her eyes, she felt the strangest sensation over come her. It was alike a twisting in her gut, making her take a step forward, away from what she knew was the only exit. As she did so, she felt what she considered the weirdest thing- what felt like a piece of water gently brushed against her legs, and the same feeling was recreated around her arms. Something long and almost scratchy-feeling brushed against her neck, her chin, and again just below her shoulder blades.

Stopping herself from taking another step forward, she gasped. "What... are we in water?"

A soft chuckling was her answer. "If you would open your eyes, you would find out."

Deciding that it was far better to find out now and avoid all dangers than to wander around blindly for the remainder of her stay, Quersoæn slowly cracked her eyes open- and promptly gasped at the sight.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

He sighed, stretching. As his back was currently scolding him, falling asleep on a park bench was not the best thing for his body. As he stretched, he heard about three distinct cracks- yup, for his back to crack like that, he really hadn't fallen asleep in such a good position.

He was about to move his right arm to stetch that side of his body, but was stopped by a weight. Confused, he looked over, only to be greeted by a pair of shinning, brown orbs.

"Hey."

He didn't exactly know how to respond to that. "Er... hey?"

The owner of the brown eyes sighed, looking away from his eyes for but a moment. "So... you're awake?"

He nodded, before realizing that she probably expected an actual spoken answer. "Yeah... did you fall asleep?"

She nodded, her hair brushing his chin and neck where his vest didn't cover it. "Yes. I just woke up not too long ago. You know you snore and talk in your sleep, right?"

A small blush crept onto his face. "Er... what was I saying?"

She shrugged. "Not too much... just mumbling about curry and something else that I didn't quite catch..."

"Oh..."

They both sat there in silence, his arm still around her, without either realizing it. The Japanese Maple above let let red-filtered sun light create red shadows all around them, while letting some pure sun light get through, dappling their faces. Everything was silent, except for the far-away sound of kids playing and the far closer sounds of the forest-area in which they were sitting. The shadows, those that were not the red-shaded ones which was just the filtered sun, were nearly none-existant, marking the time around noon.

Both began to become slightly weary, if only from the intensely calming atmosphere surrounding them, when he felt a sudden pain in his chest. He quickly placed his hand against his heart, trying to block out the sudden pain. His movement did not go un-noticed by his companion.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded, his face contorting in pain as another wave washed through his body.

She quickly stood up and knelt before him. "You liar. What's wrong?" She added the last part far more softly than she had said the first, seeing another grimace and shudder rack his body.

He shook his head, and stood up, trying to get to the flat grassy area beneath the Japanese Maple. She immediately was at his side, draping his right arm over her shoulders (as his left was still clutching at his heart beneath his clothing), her arm around his waist, and helped to lead him to the foot of the tree.

Although some unconviently-placed bushes made the going slightly harder, they made it through, before he collapsed, and lay on the ground, spread-eagle. Making a last minute decision, she took off both her vest and his own, fluffing them up into something resembling a pillow which she place under his head. However, it was apparent that he wanted nothing against his chest, his heart, at the moment, as he nearly ripped off his long-sleeved T-shirt which was then tossed by her feet.

Her eyes lingered on his amazing well-toned abs, before she knelt down by his head, quickly grabbing a water bottle which she just so happened to have on her.

When the pain began to ebb, she undid the top of the bottle and poured some of the life-giving liquid into his mouth. He drank greedily, before collapsing again. Although most of the pain had gone, a dull pounding still filled his heart. He gasped and panted, feeling completely exhausted.

She looked on, mainly in worry. There had been a number of deadly new diseases going around the last few years, and she could only hope that he had not somehow contracted one.

Motioning with his hand, she brought the water bottle to his lips again, letting him drink before pulling it away at his signal.

"Are... are you okay...?" She asked timidly, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

His eyes slowly cracked open, catching sight of her, before he slowly sat up, nearly collapsing before she moved to support him.

"I... I am now..." He gasped out, trying to forget the pain of moments before.

Gently trailing her fingers through his now extremely messy hair, she asked the question that had been bothering her, refusing to raise her voice any louder than what it had been when she had last spoken, but trying to make it sound as gentle and caring as possible.

"What was that?"

He shook his head, grimmacing at the pain that caused him, before gesturing to his heart as he leaned his head back against her chest. "I... don't know... just... a pain... in my heart..."

She bit her lip, worried for him. "Does it still hurt?"

He nodded, his hair brushing her chin. It was only then when she realized how close they were, and in where his head was exactly, but a sudden grimace on his face made her think twice about hitting him.

"Sometimes... worse than others..."

She saw how much of a strain it was to have him speak, so she 'shush'ed him, continuing to weave her fingers in his hair. It was only then that she noticed his headband was no longer securing his hair out of his face- looking around, she saw it laying a little ways away, near the bushes.

She reached out to grab it, and as she did so she heard someone on the other side whispering.

"...they are supposed to be around here..."

"I know, but they're not. We're going to have to leave."

"We can't just go back empty-handed."

"No, but we can't just take a stick, present it to the boss, and say 'Look! Here he is!' You know that as well as I do!"

"I know. You would think that there search for that Roll thing would at least make them easier to find."

"Let's just be grateful that it's keeping their mind off of our opperations."

"Which we can't start until we have them!"

"Him, you mean."

"...'him'? I thought we were to capture both?"

"We are. Master thinks that by using the girl as either bate or at least a... possible sacrifice, let's just say, we should be able to control him to do what we want."

"So she's not that important to our plans?"

"The only thing that makes her important is that she is the key to making him work for us. However, if that key was something else, then she would be completely expendable. We might even be ordered to kill her, so that they don't have a trump card over us."

"Right... so, where to now?"

"We need to leave for now. We'll report back to the Master, gather some energy supplies, and then come back."

"Right."

When she was sure they were out of ear shot and sight, she finished grabbing the bandana, before turning her head to look at him- only to be surprised when she found him nearly ontop of her, also listening.

"Wha-?"

"Ssshhhh..." He whispered, pulling her back. She could feel his heart beeting, see the pain on his face, and feel the rigidness of his entire body.

He positioned them right against the maple, his back against the tree and her back right against his chest, his mouth right beside her ear. As much as she tried, she couldn't ignore the strange feeling she had in her gut, like a twisting and turning. Her breathing quickened, her pulse increased. Right when she felt as though she had her body at least partially under control, he whispered in her ear, his lips gently brushing her lobe, "I didn't hear everything they were saying. Did you?"

She gulped, before replying in a barely audible whisper, "They were looking for two people, who were apparently right where we were just sitting."

"Let me guess, a boy and a girl?"

She barely nodded her head.

"...are you going to tell me what they said, or do we have to do the guessing game?"

His words almost made her laugh outright, but she stiffled it, feeling a smile form on his face before quickly turning into a grimace, no doubt from the pain still. He turned her head around so that she could look right at his face.

"They were saying how 'he' was so important to their plans, and how 'she' is just-"

"A key? Yeah, I heard from about where one of those guys said 'she' wasn't important except to help control 'him' or something..."

Together, while still looking in each other's eyes, the same conclusion dawned on both of them. And together, they both shuddered, afraid to even think about the complications this would mean.

"You really think they were talking about us?" She asked, worriedly.

He nodded his conviction. "Yup. We were the only people here in the last ten minutes or so, weren't we?"

She nodded. "Yeah... but not everything makes sense."

"Yes it does."

She cast a glance at him. "How could I control you?"

He sweatdropped when realizing his mistake. "Er... no reason..."

She studdied his face, and serriously began thinking of smacking, whacking or just plain hitting him, when his face contorted in a grimmace.

"You okay?"

He snorted. "As okay as I'm gonna be. The pain really seems to have calmed down, but it still doesn't really go away. It just kinda stays there, kinda pounding or pulsing..."

She turned all the way around, kneeling on her knees, eyes level wth his. Tracing her fingers up his bare chest, her eyes followed their every movement, not even paying attention to his own face. As such, he let his own eyes trace over her face. Every lash, dapple, shade, every stray hair that had fallen into her face after escaping from her clip, the gentleness of her eyes, her full lips- every detail was mapped out in his mind, as he let her run her fingers, which soon became her whole hands, over his chest.

He had to admit that it did feel good, and let out a sigh of relaxation as he concentrated on the movement of her hands. He noticed how she let them return as much to his neck and his stomach as she let them wander to the left side of his chest, just about where his heart was.

He felt her legs shift position underneath her, and she almost lost her balanse, before he quickly raised his own leg and stopped her from falling over, his own hands helping to steady her.

For the first time ina few minutes, the two looked at each other.

Both had gained a slightly red tinge to their cheeks, but their eyes quickly locked together. He wrapped his arms around her as she leaned her head against his chest. Their vests, his shirt, bandana, and their PETs forgotten on the ground not too far away, they both sat there, eyes closed, revelling in the other's presence, until the maple's shadow began to lengthen, and the red shadows on their faces began to darken in color.

By that time, both had decided that it was late, they were hungry, and he was getting cold. As she helped him to put on his shirt again (he had certainly twisted and almost ripped it when he had taken it off, and it seemed that he couldn't raise his hands very highwithout a certain amount of pain), and both reclaimed their vests and PETs, and his bandana, very few words were spoken.

They proceeded out of their clearing together, walking side by side, simply enjoying the calm, peaceful feeling that seemed to pretty much surround the forest area they were in. With every step, she couldn't help but notice the slight grimmaces that would appear on his face, which worried her, but as it didn't seem to bother him much, she refused to let it bother her.

They were nearly out of the park when a lone figure approached them. Completely covered by a black cloak, his eyes, a pure gray, shone out from beneath his hood with some strange inner light.

Both were immediately on their guard as they continued walking. Something just didn't feel _right_ about the man.

They were about to pass him when he moved into the middle of the path, arms out-stretched. Both couldn't help but notice the long black sleeves, and the black gloves he wore.

"You... Lan Hikari and Mayl Sakurai?"

Neither answered for a moment, unsure if he was asking a question or stating that that was their names. After a moment of silence, they realized that it was a question.

He answered slowly, the trying to ignore the suddenly increasing pain in his chest. "Yes... who wants to know?"

The man lowered one hand, while swinging the other around to face them. "I here... I stop!"

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Yes, kill me now. What's that... nearly two cliffies in the same chapter? _And_ after not updating for basically a month, due to reasons completely beyond my control? Okay, that was a lie. I kinda got a really bad mark in English, so Daddy-fuzz has grounded me from the computer on weekdays. But I'm allowed to go on on weekends. No sense? Oh, I so agree. I run to the school library in the morning, though, and go on there... although that doesn't exactly help...

Daddy-fuzz had a heart attack. Not fun. So now, either mom or myself have to be with him at all times. Which means no hanging out after school with friends, no being stupid and doing my homework at 10pm, while heading straight to the computer after school, no doing homework in my bed room (family doesn't like me doing anything other than reading and studying in there... say it's bad for writing... we have no idea why...), and no-GASP!- clubs after school. But daddy-fuzz has another appointment at the hospital soon, and then he might be allowed to go back to work, blah blah blah. Then we'll be happy. Until then, which is about January, don't expect frequent updates.

We are getting our hair re-straightened! Well, straightened properly... the job Cheryl did was horrendous... it went all evil and supper-ridiculously curly again after I jumped in the lake... although, at least now I could use a straightener...

We just got MMBN 1, MMBN 2, MMBN 3:White! We already had MMBN 3: Blue and MMBN 4: Red Sun. We just need MMBN 4: Blue Moon, which is currently about $45.00 (CDN), and we'll have the whole serries! But, we are sad, because we had to trade in our Zelda: Oracle of Seasons game to get the MMBN games. But, we are happy, because the Zelda game did not save anything, and these do! These are Christmas presents, though, so I got to try them out, then away, into the land of wrapping paper, presents, bows, and cards (aka the spare bedroom) it went. So now we have to wait almost a month before we get to play it. Oh well.

_**Notes**_

**1. **Not sure if anyone has realized this yet, but I have a habit of taking random, not-used-or-seen-very-much characters and using them, ie: Tajin and Zednane, and the yellow navi (from MMBN 3:Blue). If anyone knows what that yellow nav's name is, it would be greatly appreciated. Really. She'll show up a few more times, and we don't want to just refer to her as 'the yellow navi'. Even a made-up name would be appreciated. We are stupid and have pretty much run out of names, so if you don't want me to pick a name from the 'Cats' musical (which my friend got me the tape of... we were Bombalurina in grade 7), then GIVE ME A NAME! If there's no name, I shall refer to her as either 'Yellow Navi', 'the Register Navi', or 'Demter'. I say Demeter because I want to call her the name of the Gellicle Cat that signs the memory song with Grizabella, but I can't remember her name... --. Sad sad.

**2.** Yes, I know, I kept refering to Lan and Mayl as 'he' and 'she' for the whole thrid scene there. No idea why, really. I was going to have this really cool way of saying it was them... and then I forgot it. So, to not confuse the readers, I had the cloak guy say their names (so that the silly readers... well, actually, me, since I'd probably forget... would know that it is Lan and Mayl in that whole scene). Even if they're not really 'together', intamacy and worry are big part of relationships. So, why not put some in? And the cloak guy? Yes, he is an actual character. In fact, one that we all know quite well. I just had him dress up and scare Lan and Mayl, 'cause, ya know... that's the sort of thing he'd do, right? Well, when you find out who it is, then you'll understand.

**3.** Frankly, I don't care if I get... I dunno, one review for this story. What I do care about, though, is that people at least say 'oh, you should fix this...' or 'what do you mean "bathroom"? Shouldn't it be bedroom?' or 'YOU SPELT (insert word here)WRONG!' Yes, I don't mind the caps lock. Oh, I don't care if I get flamed either. I'm cold, anyways, and big-headed right now (WE GOT 93 IN HISTORY!), so I need someone to say something to bring me back to the poor, incapeable, incompetent person that I usually am. Please.

**4.** I am sure that at least one person out there has recognized where I got the base design for the Gate to Tialsia's hp from- although, there were some modifications. Cookies to the first person to get it right! Although, where it's actually from, there is no white stuff... no little curly gold parts at the top and bottom, and I'm pretty sure that the base isn't octagonal. It's circular, I think. Or hexagonal. Or Septagonal. Really, I haven't seen it for so long, I have no idea. But they do serve as gates, they are gold, and they do spin on one point continuously.

**5.** One last thing: the list of responsibilities, if you weren't clear on that when it was mentioned.

_Chaud and Protoman_- leaders of the search mission  
_Yai, Tori, Dex, Risuko and Yellow Navi_- info collectors and fieldcollectors (go from one place to another where other Navis are, collection reports and info during the day)  
_Tialsia_- gathers all the info, sorts through what's important and not, and puts it in terms Gutsman could understand  
_Quersoæn_- takes the info collected to Tialsia to be sorted; takes sorted info back to others to be re-distributed  
_Other navis_- wander around the net, looking for info relating to Roll or Megaman  
_Yggdrasil Society-_ no real part, just info givers who's info goes straight to Tialsia, so she gets the unadulterated and uncahnged versions  
_Megaman and Roll-_ Main characters who everyone is now searching for  
_Lan and Mayl-_ Net-ops to Megaman and Roll; become a direct part of what's happening on the Net  
_Cloaked Guy- _used to introduce characters as Lan and Mayl in this chapter; actually a personne in the games and anime (shows up a lot in the anime)

_Guinto-_ Leader of the Undernet Resistance (Against the Upper Navis- URAUN)  
_Nightman-_ Second-in-command of URAUN; faithful to both Guinto and Eria  
_Eria-_ The warpped, distored Roll after Guinto hacked into the Stasis Pod. Doesn't remember anything about her past; Has feelings from both being Roll and Empress (see anime: EXE, during the N1)  
_Dark Ladies-_ The Eleven female Navis of the URAUN, besides Eria; loyal only to Eria; were once Upper Navis who also underwent a type of stasis

**_Quote_**

**Mako just grinned & placed a hand on the back of his head. "They're filled with vitamins & calcium . . .well, the fish anyway."**

**"You've been watching Megaman NT Warrior again, haven't you?"**

**"I can't help it if Maysa thinks like I do."**

_**- Mako andYugi from The Lady Centurion's **Chaos Magic **(Chapter 1)**_

**_Preview_**

They stared at him for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out what his broken words had said. When neither moved, the cloaked guy growled in his throat. "Oi, it's me! Or are your kilts on too tight to get it?"

----------------------------------------------

"Wha... what is this place?"

Tialsia gently pated Quersoæn on her head. "This, my dear," she said as she gestured with her entire left arm, while drapping her right arm over Quersoæn's shoulders, "Is my home page."

----------------------------------------------

"Well? What are we supposed to do now?" He ground out, although it was quite hard to hear him, as he barely opened his mouth.

Yai sighed. "We're supposed to wait for Chaud to give us directions."

He jumped up, ready to show Chaud what he thought of that idea, when a voice from the doorway cut him off. "Come on, Lan. Now's not the time to get so up-tight about this. We need to concentrate on our prupose now."


	10. The First Move

**_Title:_** Secrets of the Undernet

**_Chapter 10:_** The First Move

* * *

**_Part One of the Christmas Present Upload!_**

* * *

**_Disclaimer: _**We don't own. Blah

**_Summary: _**After agreeing to a trade with a mysterious Navi, Roll finds herself stuck in the Undernet. Can she uncover it's secrets before she's trapped forever? LanMayl, MegaRoll

**_Warning:_** Contains insanity. One of the prologue stories for Warp Fusion. Certain couple(s) highly emphasized in some scenes. Some character bashing- usually not intended. Usually.

**_Re-cap:_** A little peak at where our favorite blue bomber is being kept. Stuff gets delegated as everyone tries to cope with losing Megaman, the original Navi who started this search. And Lan starts getting a strange pain in his chest- more specifically, his heart.

**_Spoilers:_** Gah. Here? Not too much. The only thing it spoils is one of the hints I was gonna use later for something that comes up in the after-Warp Fusion story (still have to come up with a title for that...). Oh, and another little hint for something else. And something else, too. And maybe some other stuff. Lots of stuff, ne?

**_Rating:_** PG-13 for references to subjects that some people might find either offensive, stupid, weird, or sacrilegious.

**_Song:_** Gundam Seed Ending theme by See-Saw

* * *

He groaned, as he straightened up from his position on the hard floor. It felt as though he had slept in a very uncomfortable position, with a heavy weight on his chest- which, now that he thought about his brief moments of consciousness, seemed about right. 

Looking around, he realized that he was currently in a dark cave-like place. There seemed to be no end to the cave-tunnel thing, as on his left and right were stone walls, while the tunnel stretched out into darkness both behind and ahead of him.

He shuddered, looking around worriedly. There was something off about this place- something so completely un-natural that he would have preferred the test tube her first awoke in compared to this place.

"Megaman..."

His head whipped around to the wall he had just been facing. Shrugging it off as nothing more than his imagination, he stood up and was about to start walking down the tunnel.

"Come to me, Megaman..."

He blinked, and looked again at the wall.

"Come... Mega..."

Yep, it was definitely coming from the wall. He took a tentative step forward, before taking another few.

"Megaman... I am here..."

He lifted his hand to place it on the wall. As he lowered it, the thought that this was a trap occurred to him. Then again, walking down the tunnels might be a trap, too...

"Do not be afraid... I will guide you..."

He blinked again, before lowering his hand the rest of the way. He was surprised to find that the 'wall' was not so much a wall as an illusion. Feeling slightly better that he wasn't about to get blown from the Cyber Matrix to the moon and back again, he took a confident step inside the illusion wall.

A large chamber, finely furnished with silks, velvet, cashmere, and fleece- or the digital equivalent of what we women would associate with a luxurious room- met his gaze. Through his boots he could feel the wool from a finely crafted rug under his feet, and along the walls were tapestries, paintings, and very expensive- and fragile- looking objects on pedestals.

A large couch was against the wall to the left, an even larger sheer curtain hung over it in many layers, making it nearly impossible to see whatever- or whoever- was on the couch.

"Come to me, Megaman... I am right here..."

His attention was suddenly locked on the couch, as he began moving towards it. As he walked, he noticed that there appeared to be more than one shape on the couch, and that the couch was actually tiered. On the first three levels were approximately three figures- two on either side of the next tier up, one in the middle. On the fourth tier was only two figures- one on each side- and on the fifth appeared only one figure.

"I am right here..."

The curtain was hung from a circular bar, letting there be about three feet from the foot of the couch to the first layer of the curtains, and about twenty feet from the couch to the last layer, or the layer that was closest to him. He slowly made his way through all the layers- there seemed to be hundreds, although there was really only twelve- before he passed the first layer, and stood at the foot of the couch, staring up into shocking green eyes, completely ignoring the other eleven in front of him.

"Leave us, my Ladies..."

The eleven obediently stood up and walked away, through the doorway from which he had come from.

"Come to me, Megaman..."

He walked up the tiers, in an almost trance-like state, before stopping on the tier just below the green eyes.

"Who are you? What am I doing here? Why-"

"Sh. Quiet, Mega. You have far too many questions to be answered at once."

"But you will answer them?"

"Only if you come to sit by me."

He apprehensively made his way up the last tier to sit beside the green eyes on the most comfortable cushion he had ever felt.

"Well?"

"Do you not think I should introduce myself?"

He shrugged. "It would be nice."

"My name is Eria. And you are Megaman. Am I correct?"

"Yes." He answered her coldly, not letting himself warm up to her kind, yet distant, and slightly familiar attitude.

"You have many questions. Start asking, or we will never get through all the answers."

"Where am I?"

"A special section of the Undernet, created from excess data floating around, specifically created for myself and the other female members of the URAUN- Undernet Resistance Against Upper Navis- to hide out when he need a break from all the males."

"Who brought me here?"

"One of my Ladies- Rouge, and you were lured by Sunset."

"How long have I been here?"

She thought for a moment, before answering. "Nearly five hours, now."

"Why am I here?"

She grinned. "Ah. I was wondering when we would get around to this one."

"Well?"

"It seems that the rest of the URAUN thinks that Upper Navis have been constantly destroying the Undernet for no reason whatsoever. Of course, they decided to keep tabs on two Navis who would pose the most threat- you, and another Navi named Tialsia."

He blinked. "Me? Wait... so this is my prison?"

She laughed. "No, no, no... weren't you listening? This is a hide-away. When we found out, we brought you here, so that you couldn't be followed and observed."

"And why did I need to be protected of that?"

"Because we don't trust Guinto- the leader of the URAUN- nor do we trust any Navis on the job. If you're listed as one of those on the 'super-powerful' list, don't you think they would try to off you?"

"And you won't?"

"No."

"Why? Why should I trust you, or-"

"Because we're the only ones who know how to get out of here. We're the only contacts you have in the Undernet to tell you if they mean to wage a full-out war on the Cyber Matrix. And we're currently the ones who decide whether you live or die."

He gulped, and nodded. "Fine. Reason enough. But there's something else..."

"How do you know that?"

"...there's always something else. Another motive, reason, reaction... always."

"I'm glad you're not as stupid as Guinto thought you were. But yes, there is something I want you to do for me, in return of letting you go free, having constant protection, and having contacts in the Undernet."

"Dare I ask?"

"I want you, in return for us being spies for you, for you to be spies for us."

"WHA-?"

"Now now, no screaming. Whatever information we discuss, it stays here. Unless it is a plan to throw everyone off...?"

He glared at her. "Why do you want me to be a spy? Why not someone else?"

"Because you're closest to many of the humans and Navis who would likely be in charge of an army or force in the Cyber Matrix. You ask questions, anyways- asking a few more wouldn't be suspicious."

Grumbling, he turned his head away from her. "Is there anything else you would like, your Majesty?"

She smirked at his sarcasm. "Why yes. You."

He quickly turned back to face her, only to see her smiling at her joke. He glared. "That was NOT funny."

"No, but your reaction was."

He rolled his eyes. "This doesn't mean I'll be a permanent spy."

"Don't worry- I just want to know if the Upper Navis are planning anything against the Undernet. Although, if all Upper Navis are like you, I'm not sure I could fight against them. But... this is my home, and I'll protect it, no matter who I have to go against."

He nodded in understanding. "I would do the same thing. However... if someone is being controlled, then I would first try to knock them out of it."

"Really? But if they're able to be controlled once, wouldn't they be able to be controlled again?"

"But everyone deserves a second chance, especially if it is a life and death situation!"

She glanced at him. "...you really feel strongly about that, don't you?"

"Let's just say I've had some personal experience with getting second chances... and thirds, for that matter."

"I've had a number of chances myself. However, the situations haven't always been friendly."

"...I guess we're just lucky, then."

"What do you mean?"

"That we have second and third, and maybe fourth and fifth and sixth chances to redeem ourselves. We might have done horrible things in the past, but at least we can try to do things that work to better ourselves and others around us, instead of just doing things for our own personal, selfish gain."

"...."

"I don't care if you don't understand, but-"

He was cut off as she leaned her head against his chest, her hands holding onto his shoulders. "Wha-?"

She sighed. "I'm glad that you can understand me. But the position that I'm in- it's currently be... 'evil', per say, or get deleted. I can't do anything in between."

"...but you just did."

"How?"

"But not letting this Guinto person have a chance at killing me."

"You referred to it as killing, not deleting."

"Force of habit."

"You know, we really are two of a kind... and I would gladly protect you from Guinto, Mega. But would you-"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because. You protected- protect- me. So you can't be all bad."

She grinned, before sitting up straight again. "So you will tell me if the Upper Navis decide to try to invade- or even come- to the Undernet?"

"Of course. And you'll do the same for me?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything else..."

"If things get too rough between me and Guinto, and he finds out, we'd have to convince him that you're on our side, even though you have an operator and friends in the Cyber Matrix."

"How so?"

"A blood- or data- pact."

"...then I hope things never get too rough."

"As do I."

"...can I go now?"

"Aw, scared of me?"

He grinned. "No, but I'm worried about La- er, my operator."

She grinned, and looked at him evilly. "Still don't trust me?"

He sighed. "Not as much as I would like to."

"Then you're smart. I'll pretend that I didn't hear you start to say the name of your operator, and you'll pretend that we never had this conversation, that you're still completely, totally, and only loyal to the Upper Navis."

"Same goes for you."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

In front of her was the strangest looking homepage she had ever seen. A line of what looked like doors ran all along one wall, each marked off with different symbols. A carpet, with other symbols, ran the length of the hallway, and small pictures were in front of each of the doors. The carpet itself was a plush red, with jewel blue, yellow and green creating the shapes, designs, symbols and pictures. The carpet covered what appeared to be a black, marble floor, as was the walls and the roof. 

Turning around, she noticed that the door they had just come from was intricately carved, a double-door, and was currently closed, and locked tight by the look of the chains, bolts, and locks on the doors.

"Wha... what is this place?"

Tialsia gently patted Quersoæn on her head. "This, my dear," she said as she gestured with her entire left arm, while draping her right arm over Quersoæn's shoulders, "Is my home page."

"But, Tialsia... this looks like the real world, not the Cyber Matrix."

"Because it's based on the real world, and isn't part of the Cyber Matrix."

"...I don't get it."

Tialsia sighed. "What don't you get?"

"Everything you just said. And WHY ARE WE NOT WEARING OUR ARMOR?!"

Tialsia winced, poked a finger in her ear, turned the finger a few times, pulled it out, and glanced idly at Quersoæn. "Because we don't need to be. And could you please speak a little bit quieter?"

"But... then what's up with..."

"Well, you can always put your armor back on- but I find it much more comfortable and easier to work in this."

Quersoæn, for the first time, took a proper look at Tialsia. Instead of the red, white, gold, silver, yellow and ruby armor she usually wore, she wore very human-ish clothing: a black, long-sleeved shirt, ripped artfully in quite a few places, white, slightly baggy pants, red boots, wrist guards, a black leather choker and a large ribbon, keeping her light brown hair in place at the base on her neck in a bun.

"Well... I guess..."

"You can try your armor if you want- but, personally, I would rather work in what you're wearing right now than your armor."

Quersoæn blinked, before looking herself over. When she wasn't able to properly see everything, Tialsia sighed, snapped her fingers, and data pixels- proving they were still at least connected to the net- swarmed together to form a mirror.

What Quersoæn saw in it stunned her.

Someone who could be no more than 17 years old- human age- stood in the mirror. Her dark brown hair, normally not a problem, hung down her back to her waist, where it was tied with an orange ribbon. A thin, green mesh shirt hung on her shoulders, under which was a purple camisole. A short green skirt hung from her waist, over which was a purple mesh skirt, hanging down to just below her knees. Green and purple high-heeled sandals, with straps which wrapped up her legs, adorned her feet.

"Wow... it's... I'm..."

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah... but... the whole skirt thing... it just doesn't work for me."

Tialsia thought a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Try... THIS!"

Another pixel swarm saw Quersoæn's clothing change rapidly. She still wore the green mesh shirt, with the purple camisole underneath. However, they were longer, and tied into a knot to her right, exposing from just above her belly button down to nearly four inches below it. From this spot, green-and-purple stripped, ridiculously baggy jeans covered her legs, hiding her green-and-purple running shoes. Her hair was no longer long and loose- underneath an orange, purple and green baseball hat (which was on backwards), two braided pigtails came from either side of her head. Still just as long, and tied with orange ribbons.

Quersoæn grinned. "Now this I can stand."

Tialsia imitated her. "Good. Now come on- I have to show you around."

Quersoæn rolled her eyes, thinking that nothing behind the hundreds of doors in front of her could surprise her.

Until Tialsia opened the door marked with a circle, inside of which was a square with a triangle on top.

Inside was what appeared to be a foyer, complete with coat rack, hat stand, and shoe box. A slightly raised area just inside the door was made out of wood, and just beyond this was a sliding door with white, paper material on it. The walls were white-washed, and the wood was stained a dark brown, almost black color. Just past the coat rack, hat stand and shoe box, on ether side of the small hall-ish area, were two tapestries, each depicting great battles.

"Er...?" Quersoæn wasn't sure what to say.

"Ah, the results of technology. Everything in the human world- or real world," she hurried to correct herself as Quersoæn looked at her, confused, "is recreated perfectly here."

Quersoæn nodded, before walking over to the door at the end of the hall. "Where does this go?"

"To the courtyard."

"The what?"

"Go see for yourself."

Shrugging, Quersoæn did as she was bid- and stopped to gasp at the sight.

She now stood on a deck made of wood stained the same color as that in the foyer. Another white-washed walled building stood in front of her, across a small grassy area and a Japanese Maple and beautiful flowers. Two more buildings were on the left and right, leaving about four feet between the corners, so that each building was separate, not connected to any others. Through the gaps between the buildings, Quersoæn could see more, arranged in the same style.

The deck itself was the same color the whole way through. It wrapped right around the small courtyard, making a square shape, connecting all the doors to each other. Steps led down from the deck to the grassy area. The deck filled up the spaces between the buildings, and continued on, connecting all the courtyards and buildings together. However, from what Quersoæn could see of the other courtyards, they were not all grass.

The two that she was able to see were filled with water, like giant ponds that the buildings sat on top of. Flashes of water showed fish and other water animals- or the digital equivalent, anyways. Lilly pads, cat tails, bull rushes, and many other types of water plant floated and lined the ponds.

The roofs of the buildings looked like traditional Japanese architecture, with the slanted roofs with the up-and-down ripples- not that Quersoæn knew that this was traditional Japanese architecture.

"Wow... Tialsia... what is this place?"

Tialsia's eye twitched. "You've already asked that. This is my homepage."

"I know... but it seems more like a home than a homepage..."

Tialsia shrugged. "Yeah, well, ya know..."

Quersoæn was about to step down onto the grassy part of the courtyard, when Tialsia pulled her back by the pig tails.

"Wha-"

"Lesson one. Never step into this courtyard. You will not like the consequences." Tialsia, still dagging Quersoæn by the pig tails, walked around to the first building/room on their right. "This is the sitting room. If guests come, they wait here. Then I- or we- come, and show them around."

Inside another sliding door was a very formal room, with seats, couches, chairs, and decorations from all different cultures- but mainly Japanese and Egyptian. Quersoæn looked at the Sphinx models, before following Tialsia as she felt a strong tug on her pig tails.

The room directly across from the exit turned out to be the formal dining room. One long, low table went from one end of the room to the other, with soft, fluffy, cushiony and beautifully embroidered pillows lined up along it. Quersoæn could see a darker area underneath the table, and pointed it out to Tialsia.

"Under the table was cut out, so that when people sit, they can either fold their legs under them, or let them dangle down."

Once again, Quersoæn noticed strange artifacts and tapestries hanging on the walls, or on pedestals in the corners.

The next, and final room, backing onto the Japanese Maple, or trans-yard, as Tialsia called it, was a room with ridiculously comfortable furnishings. Chairs, tables, couches, love seats, lounges, even the carpet seemed to scream out comfort. Quersoæn desperately wanted to go in and put up her feet, until Tialsia dragged her outside once again.

They proceeded through the gap between the comfort room and foyer, and, as Quersoæn had thought, this courtyard was filled with water.

"This is the pond-yard." Tialsai told her, as she dragged Quersoæn off to see the first building. "All the buildings leading or backing onto the pond-yard have to do with cooking, or making food." Under Quersoæn's questioning gaze, she continued, "completely for aesthetics sake."

Indeed, the first room they came to could only be a modern-day kitchen, with all the stainless steel appliances, special lighting, and obvious positioning. Before Quersoæn could try to open the fridge, Tialsia dragged her onto the next room- the eating room.

"This is just for me, and whoever else is here, when it seems too much trouble to use the formal dining room."

"Which is basically every day?" Quersoæn asked as a joke. Tialsia grinned. "Yeah, pretty much."

After that was the pantry. Digital food lined the walls, and another door hidden behind a shelf lead to the freezing room. "Used to keep food cold, or torture annoying pests."

The last room was simply the other wall of the foyer, engraved with intricate designs, pictures, patterns, and Glyphs of all different languages, the prominent being Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Japanese Kanji.

The next courtyard was another grass courtyard, which Tialsia called the leaf-yard, and allowed Quersoæn to go sit under the shade of the Sakura tree for a bit as she quickly prepared the three new rooms backing onto this yard. Quersoæn looked at the door she knew was the other door to the eating room, before glancing at the corner of the comfort room. Although the deck did go between the comfort room and the other room, a wall blocked the way barely a foot back from the corners of the buildings.

Tialsia reappeared then, and dragged Quersoæn through the living room, which included a TV, VCR and DVD players, as well as a tape/CD/Mp3/radio player. Then they were onto the games room, where another TV, VCR, DVD, tape/CD/Mp3/radio player was, plus about sixteen different game consoles, all hooked up to the TV, as well as some good ol' pinball and Pac-man games. Plus another couch, chair, etc., which were quite comfy as well.

The last room was an exercise room, complete with weights, stationary bikes, pull-down machines, reclining bikes, ab machines, pull-back rowers, and all that other fun stuff you could find in a gym. Under her questioning gaze as they sat under the Sakura tree after a quick demo/lesson of all the machines, Tialsia answer Quersoæn, "simply aesthetics. Although, they are helpful, ne?"

Upon agreeing with Tialsia, Quersoæn was then dragged (still by the pig tails) to the courtyard opposite to the pond-yard. Another water-filled courtyard greeted Quersoæn's eyes, the water-yard.

With one building being the games room, the other three were Tialsia's "work places". Once again, in clockwise order (starting at approximately the nine, as the six was the games room), there was the c-room, where at least 20 flat-screened computers sat on their own, separate desks, then the o-room, aka Tialsia's office, where a large, wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, a spinning chair behind it (which, again, looked ridiculously comfy), and against the back wall was a large book case, with many different files all stacked nicely, almost like an actual book case with books would look.

"Computers are aesthetics, right?" Quersoæn asked Tialsia as they moved onto the last room.

"I certainly don't use them." Was Quersoæn's only reply.

The last room, as both their last room to check out that backed onto the water-yard, and the last room on Quersoæn's tour, was known as only the Hall. High-ceilinged, looking like an old temple, with statues, tapestries, and carvings into the pillars which held up the obviously heavy roof of different gods, goddesses, and images, including one which Quersoæn found "morbidly enlightening"(**1**) (it was of Jesus Christ on the cross... only colored, and with what looked like real blood coming out of his hands).

Another door to the right led to the area that Quersoæn had found blocked off while sitting under the Sakura tree in the leaf-yard. It was obviously a large courtyard, the walls of the Hall, living room, formal dining room and another room making up the walls of the open-aired area.

Looking far more like a temple than anything else, Quersoæn could only stare in shock. A large area of grass was neatly manicured, with bushes, flowers, trees and statues along the walls. A circular area of the ground had been removed, though, and replaced with what was undoubtably water. A pond was in the center of the yard, mirroring the pond-yard's decorations and contents exactly. However, in the middle of this, a large, perfectly circular mound of black marble, flat on top, rose out of the pond, a perfect cylinder.

Atop the black island was a set up that nearly mirrored Stone Hedge, with the large, rectangular blocks of stone (or, in this case, marble) sticking into the air in a circle formation. However, resting on these large blocks were more of the gigantic rectangular shapes, made this time of a red-colored marble. Onto these blocks were laid layers upon layers of either palm leaves, papyrus rolls or bark- or maybe it was a mixture of many. Either way, Quersoæn couldn't exactly tell what the structure's roof was made of, but it was obviously not the same material as the rest of the roofs.

Because the black island rose nearly seven feet above the grassy area, and nearly eight feet above the water, the bridge built to join the black island to the grassy area had been changed to form steps, made out of the same wood that was found everywhere about the house.

"Well? What do you think?"

Finally registering that someone was talking to her, Quersoæn turned around to face Tialsia. "What... what is that?"

"This room is the Temple of Iraye. It is how I usually speak with my masters, and my Net-op."

"And one of those masters happens to be that woman- Peorth-sama, you called her, right?"

Tialsia nodded. "She is one of four. You saw another of my and my Net-ops masters, Skuld-sama."

"That little girl?"

"Both her sisters are the other masters. Skuld-sama will easily, with some more training, become just as powerful as Belldandy-sama and Urd-sama. And she's really smart, too."

Quersoæn looked at Tialsia. "So... why did you show me this place?"

"Mreh. If I am not in the o-room, or any other rooms I showed you, I would more than likely be here. If not, I am in my chambers- which are sealed off- but I should be out to greet you if I am in my chambers."

"Er...?"

"There's an alarm system, showing who enters and who leaves in my chambers."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Hey... you wanna go into the comfort room and relax?"

Quersoæn's eyes widened. "Do I ever! Let's go!"

* * *

They stared at him for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out what his broken words had said. When neither moved, the cloaked guy growled in his throat. "Oi, it's me! Or are your kilts on too tight to get it?" 

The mention of kilts brought both back to reality.

"Mr. Match! Sorry, we didn't realize it was you!" Lan exclaimed, leaning slightly on Mayl as the pain in his chest increased slightly. Match, however, looked too nervous to notice how Lan was standing.

"Oi! Don't just yell it to the whole world!"

"What are you so nervous about, Mr. Match?" Mayl asked politely, trying to move to make herself and Lan more comfortable, as her arm from her shoulder down was beginning to grow numb.

"Follow me, lad, lassie."

They nodded, before following Match back into the trees, and into a clearing about ten feet off the path, through some bushes.

"Alright. You two have got to help me."

They blinked. "With what?"

Match fell onto the floor, his hood coming off his face. "I need to get away from that curry shop! It's driving me insane! Being nice and polite to little 'uns who don't even care about what I do, just about the food! Collecting money, drivin' 'round on that scooter all day... I can't take it any more!"

Lan and Mayl sweat dropped. "Really? I thought you wanted to work there to get WWW back up and running?"

Match sighed. "That dream is long gone now, laddie. After Wily and Grave, it looks like we'll never start up WWW again."

Lan shook his head. "Don't say never. I don't nesseccarily want WWW to start up again, but you shouldn't just give up on your dreams."

Match nodded, before breaking down into tears. "That... that's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard!"

Mayl walked over to Match and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. "Now now, Mr. Match... Lan's right. Dreams are something you shouldn't give up on, and work to achieve, no matter what."

Another sniff, before the dam broke and tears came running out of Match's eyes constantly. "You're both so nice! But I just can't keep working in that curry shop!"

Lan sighed, as he crouched down beside Match, with a small grimace that Mayl caught easily. "Well, maybe if you expanded..."

"Eh, laddie? What do ya mean?"

"I mean, that if you opened up more shops, some maybe around the world, that instead of being the delivery boy, you might be able to be an actual manager, or at least a cook."

Match's eyes brightened. "Yeah! Then I might be able to get away from everyone, and run #1 Curry my own way!" He turned to them, his eyes bright. "Thank ya both so much!" He enveloped Lan in a rib-cracking hug, which seemed to crack his heart more than his ribs. He gasped, and Match let go of him.

"Sorry, laddie! Didn't know you were so weak!"

Lan, who had his hand over his heart and a grimace on his face, muttered out, "Naw... just some problems I've been having..."

Mayl had wandered over to him, and began supporting him again. Match, looking after them, made his decision.

"Oi! Lan! Mayl! If ye want, I could drive you home! I have an order from ACDC, anyways..."

They looked at each other, before turning back to Match. "But, Mr. Match, there's only room for one other person in that scooter of yours."

Mayl pushed Lan further away from the grove. "Go on, Lan. I'll walk home."

"But-"

"You need it more than me. I'll go back to your house to check and see if you're alright, okay?"

Lan nodded, his thanks, before turning to see Match right behind them. "Come on, then. It's almost dinner time, and I have a batch of curry to deliver!"

They proceeded to march, Match now in the lead, towards one of the exits of the park. After getting Lan settled on the seat, Match quickly sat down, and, with a nod to Mayl who returned with a wave, the scooter took off.

Mayl grinned, as she got out her scooter and proceeded to follow the quickly disappearing scooter. "Well... at least something good came of this day..."

* * *

He ran his hands through his hair for the millionth time in the last few minutes, effectively messing his hair enough so that part of it looked grey. A sigh, more out of annoyance than boredom, accompanied this running of his hands, which effectively annoyed at least two other people in the small bedroom.

"Would you stop that?!" Yai nearly screeched from beside him on the bed, extremely close to going cat-ish again and raking his face with her finger nails.

"Yeah. Come on, Chaud, we're all bored with waiting. We've been here for nearly three hours." Dex put in, a stress sign making it's appearance on his forehead.

Chaud sighed again, making Yai smack him in the head. He glared at her. "Well, at least you haven't been put in charge of this thing, and at least you don't have to tell him that Megaman's gone missing!"

Yai, Dex, and even Tori lowered their heads in shame, understanding that the situation Chaud was in- that they were all in- was not an ideal one.

"So... can we eat?"

"DEX!"

It was about this moment when they heard the sound of an engine, someone talking, then the engine moving away. Barely four seconds later, the door opened, and a voice that they knew quite well called out, "I'm home!"

Their hostess' voice cut through the silence. "Welcome home, Lan! How was your day?"

They heard a sigh. "It was okay..."

"Did you do your homework?"

Everyone in the bedroom could only imagine the look on the other speaker's face as this was said. "Er..."

"Honestly, Lan. I think that you should do your homework first from now on before going off and net battling."

"Hey! I needed to see dad first!"

"About what?"

"Something to do with Megaman... by the way, have you heard from him?"

"Why would I hear from Megaman? Not that it wouldn't be nice, every once in a while..."

"Whatever. If you need me, I'll be in my room."

"Oh, Lan, you have some guests up there."

"Really? How long have they been here?"

"About... oh, I'd say three hours."

"THREE HOURS?!"

"Well, yes. We couldn't find you anywhere, so I let them wait in your room. Oh, when you go up, do you want to invite them all to dinner?"

"Er... sure, why not?"

"Oh, Lan..."

"Yes?"

"Is Mayl coming over tonight?"

"Yeah, she's on her way right now."

"From her house?"

"No, the park. We hung out there all day, and Mr. Match decided to give me a ride home."

"So that was who that was. Well, I'll let her in when she comes. You head on up."

"Thanks, mom."

A few blinks went through the bedroom as the door opened. The brown-haired, blue bandana-ed boy in the doorway blinked.

"Er... hi?"

Yai sighed. "There you are! Do you know how long we're been waiting?"

He glanced around before answering. "Er... long enough for Chaud's hair to go from white-and-black to grey?"

Everyone looked at Chaud then, who went to look in the mirror. As a round of small giggles broke out through the room, he scowled, and quickly smoothed his hair back into his usual style.

"Anyways... why were you guys waiting here for three hours?" Lan asked them, wanting to get this over with and fall asleep. At his words, however, everyone seemed to just grow nervous, and shift uncomfortably where they either sat or stood.

"Er... Lan..." Tori started, unable to finish.

"You see..." Yai continued, before looking to Chaud.

The dual-color haired pre-teen sighed, before looking Lan straight in the eyes, his own holding something that looked like both nervousness and pity.

"Lan... Megaman... he went missing today."

Lan froze for a minute, not sure he had heard properly. _'Megaman... went missing? But how?' _

Lan sat down beside Yai on his bed, too stunned to do anything else. The other four in the room looked at him, pity and compassion in their eyes, as they watched Lan slowly seem to loose all connection with the world.

As he drifted off to space-out land, Yai, Chaud, Tori and Dex all shared a look. None wanted to have to answer Lan's questions- after Megaman was deleted by Pharoman and was Navi-napped by Raoul's gang, and after his net chess-battle with Tora, Lan had always been a little touchy when it came to Megaman.

Slowly, Lan pulled himself from his reverie, his eyes dark and foreboding, anger, annoyance, and pain clearly visible. He focused his attention on the first person he saw- Yai.

"Well? What are we supposed to do now?" He ground out, although it was quite hard to hear him, as he barely opened his mouth.

Yai sighed. "We're supposed to wait for Chaud to give us directions."

He jumped up, ready to show Chaud what he thought of that idea, when a voice from the doorway cut him off. "Come on, Lan. Now's not the time to get so up-tight about this. We need to concentrate on our purpose now."

He turned around, and his eyes met not only his mother's worried face in the doorway, but also his father's and Mayl's. Mayl was the one who had spoken.

"When Roll went missing, you helped me find her- or, at least you put everything you had into trying to find her. Now that Megaman's missing, I'm going to do the same for you."

All three proceeded into the room, although Yuucihiro and Haruka didn't go more than a foot into the room. Mayl walked straight up to Lan, and put her hand on his left shoulder. The pain in his chest- which he had effectively blocked out by being so angry and distraught about losing Megaman- came back with a vengence, and he winced, quite obviously. Mayl jerked her hand back, before guiding Lan back to his bed.

"I'm sorry, Lan. Did I-"

"No, s'okay, Mayl. So... what are we supposed to do?" This last part was addressed to everyone, and Yuucihiro started thinking.

"Well... I can go look through Scilab, see if there's anything we can use to track down Megaman. He's a Scilab Navi- there should be some kind of default program that allows us to see where he is at all times."

"But... didn't you program Megaman?" Dex asked, confused.

"Well, yes... me and two others. Each of us had a different part to do, though- aesthetics, programs, and fail-safes. I was lucky enough to work on the actual programming- everything from simply walking to his personality had to be specially programmed. Another one of my colleagues got to work on the aesthetics- how he looks, which is probably the easiest job. And my last partner worked on all the fail-safes, which included the de-bug addition to Bug Style."

"So all we have to do is find which of the doctors worked on Megaman with you, get him or her to tell us the tracker fail-safe, and then find Megaman." Tori stated, summarizing what he had just taken in.

"Well, that should be easy." Yai exclaimed, ready to call her dad if they needed anything again.

"Should be is the key word. The only problem is- it would be impossible to get ahold of him." Yuucihiro sighed, before leaning against the door frame. Haruka looked on the group of people sitting in the room, worried.

"Why? Is he in jail or something?" Mayl asked, curious.

"No. Both of the other two doctors were killed in a plane accident, on their way to a meeting in Brightland. And we never really told each other what programs we installed in Megaman, or how we did it- we just told each other the basics, just in case."

"In case of what?" Yai quickly jumped in.

"Never mind." Yuucihiro sighed.

Chaud looked thoughtful for a moment, before consulting briefly with Protoman. When he turned to face the rest of the group, his eyes were set- but filled with confusion. "I understand that there's a lot to Megaman's creation you're not telling us, Dr. Hikari. But there's one thing in this story that doesn't make sense, and we need clarification on. The last Scilab doctor to die because of anything other than natural causes died nearly four years ago- on a plane trip to Brightland. Because they were flying in a plane sponsored by the Royal family, it had the Brightland insignia on it, and a Darkland sub shot it down. Am I correct?"

A nod was his only answer.

"Then wouldn't that mean that you spent at least four years creating Megaman?"

Everyone swivelled their heads to look at the head Scilab doctor, who's response was to shake his head. "We spent nearly eight and a half years on Megaman, before I gave him to Lan."

That was a surprising bit of info. Everyone looked shocked for a moment, before a burning smell reached their noses, and Haruka gasped. "Oh no! Dinner's going to be ruined!" She quickly ran down the stairs, Mayl standing up to go help her.

Lan looked about ready to stop Mayl, but stopped at a look that his father gave him. After Mayl and Haruka left, everyone sat or stood quietly for a moment, before Chaud sighed and stood up. "We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully Tialsia or Quersoæn or someone will have some info. I have a business meeting in two hours- sorry I can't stay later. And sorry for not looking after Megaman, Lan."

With these parting words, Chaud slowly left the room, soon followed by Yai, Tori and Dex, all saying sorry and promising to help in whatever way they could.

"Dad... why did you stop me from stopping-"

"Because I need to talk to you, Lan."

Lan blinked, and slid over on his bed, making room for his father. "About what?"

"About what that Navi Tialsia tried to talk to me- us- about this morning."

"About... er... Hub?"

"Yes. You know that Megaman used to go by the name Hub, right?"

"Well, yeah, but back to my question from his morning. Whenever I think of the name Hub, I think of a human."

"Then what you're thinking is right."

Yuucihiro and Lan sat together in silence, the older letting the information sink into the younger's head. As this happened, Lan's eyes grew wide, before he quickly turned to his father. "But then, who was-"

"Lan! Dr. Hikari! Dinner has been salvaged!" Mayl burst into the room, a smile on her face. Yuucihiro's face turned from a concentrated look to one of pure delight.

"And it smells delicious, Mayl! Are you coming, Lan?"

"Yeah... I'll be down..." Yuucihiro blinked at his son's unenthusiasm. _'I hope he's not angry with Mayl about interrupting our talk...'_

As Yuucihrio's footsteps faded, Mayl looked Lan over. He seemed depressed, saddened, and, still, distraught. Unsure of what else to do, she sat down beside him. "Lan..."

"Mayl... have you ever felt that there's something you should know, and you're really close to figuring it out, and it won't stop bugging you? And there's just one piece that's missing, just one, and then you'd feel as though if you were killed, you would die happy, just knowing you solved the puzzle?"

'_Yeah... you.'_ However, Mayl knew the meaning of the word 'tact', and therefore did not voice her first thoughts. Instead, she took time to collect herself, and turned to Lan. "Something's bothering you that much?"

"So you know what it's like?"

"...yes. Really well, too."

"Did you ever figure out the answer?"

She shook her head. "As much as I try... I can never seem to ever really figure it out. Just when I think I know the answer, something happens, and the answer I used to have just doesn't seem to fit anymore."

Lan nodded. "That's exactly how I feel right now."

"About what?"

"About Roll and Megaman being missing. About what this stupid pain in my chest is. About what those men were talking about in the park. About... about...."

He was unable to finish, as all the events of not just the past day or week or month, but of the past year or so caught up with him, and he broke down. "So... so many things..."

Mayl, wanting dearly to comfort Lan, but not knowing how, wrapped her arms gently around him, and let him cry onto her shoulder as he returned the hug around her middle. He drew himself up so that he was nearly sitting in her lap, drawing as much comfort from her presence as her words.

Mayl, fighting off a heavy blush, gently stroked Lan's hair, before whispering in his ear, "Lan... it's okay... I'm here... we'll make it through this... together...."

Haruka and Yuucihiro, wondering what was taking the two so long, had decided to see. Creeping up to Lan's bedroom, they peeked around the corner and saw Mayl wrap her arms around Lan, and Lan return the hug. They heard her words, and their son's sobs. Haruka, feeling her son's pain, turned to Yuucihiro as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight to his own body.

"Soon, Haruka... it must be soon..."

"Yes... but... how will they take?"

"We'll find out when we tell them. There's far too many secrets being kept from them..."

Haruka nodded, and both then went to sit downstairs, leaving Lan and Mayl to themselves.

'_If any of those myths and stories from the Old Times are real, then please, Kami-sama, please let us all get through these times...'

* * *

_

**Kay:** well, there you have it. Chapter ten- and not much more happened. We like drawing things out...

**Shila:** Although, based on these notes, with you drawing it out... it's probably going to be another year before you finish this.

**Kay:** yeah, yeah, yeah... I need to edit those, anyways. I've changed a lot of things, as my stupid brain has decided that certain parts didn't work so well with the rest of the story line. And I've left a lot of random, foreboding sentences in the early chapters of this which I'm probably never going to find a purpose for.

**Shila:** You really shouldn't have said that... you might find a reason for using them afterwards.

**Kay:** well, ya know, it's kinda MINUS STUPID outside right now, so anything other than my hands/fingers typing this isn't really working.

**Shila:** Is that why you haven't gotten sugar-high yet?

**Kay:** yeah, pretty much. That and we went to see National Treasure with Daddy-fuzz and Mommy-fuzz, and ate three pounds of Cherry Blasters (we went to the Bulk Barn just before the movie). Trust me- eating three pounds of Cherry Blasters makes both your teeth and your stomach hurt...

_**Notes**_

**1)** So, yeah... as you can see, not much was accomplish in this chapter, other than me realizing that doing previews with actual parts of the chapter in it is a pain, cause then when you actually go to write the chapter, things change, but you still have to incorporate what you wrote in the last chapter preview. It's a pain. So now, just wide, big, summary-ish thingys, like those you find in Rockman.EXE- The Collage Years (kudos to Anime Master Zero, for just the whole thing in general. BTW, when Warp Fusion is eventually over, and the Reset happens, I might end up stealing the idea of them going to Collage, and writing about it...)

**2)** For those of you who are confused, this takes place approx. between EXE 2 (Gospel/Grave Arc) and Axess (Dark Chip Syndicate Nebula Arc). So, they know about Style Changes and PAs, but Dr. Hikari and Meijin (Mr. Famous) are still working on developing Cross Fusion (CF) and Soul Unison (Merge) (SUM). However, for those who know the truth about CF and SUM, it's that the only reason why Lan and Megaman are able to truly access those powers is because that after Megaman used Bug Style to defeat Gospel (well, the Grave Virus Beast... evil pain in the ass to beat, too), and was deleted then re-formatted, he lost the ability to Style Change. So, right now, the only trump card the dynamic duo have are the PAs- and they only know one (LifeSword).

**3)** I've decided to do two endings (Oh man, this just makes more work for me!). One is the ending I had originally planned out- the other just takes things straight to the story that I'm planning for after Warp Fusion. However, the same major event happens in both scenarios, and that means... oh great. Well, basically, short second-last chapter, probably, and super ridiculously long final chapter. Oh goody. But this should be fun!

**4)** No one's given a name for the yellow navi. I am very disappointed. Sad sad. Even if it's not her real name, GIVE ME A NAME! ...okay, I'm good.

**5)** About Tialsia's wonderful HP- my description is nothing compared to the nice, complicated layout I had to draw out to stop myself from being confused. While I did so, I realized that some things wouldn't work in there, so- voila!- lots of changes and evil eraser marks. I'll make a good one and post it on my webbie, for everyone to see. And if there's any question, refer them to me!

**6)** And about that little (1) thingy beside the words "morbidly enlightening"- sorry, I happened to read the story Sadistic Desire from the Digimon section (ooh, that's weird.. but good), and I was kinda writing this, and... yeah... anyways! Words kinda stolen from that story. Hee hee. Forgive me? Mreh.

_**Comments**_

I hail TheWebbuilder. And, if you're taken the time to read this far, TWB, then the epilogish-thingy is, I guess, what you would call a sequel. Only, what I'm trying to say is something that doesn't really have a separate plot, just ties up some loose ends, like that ridiculously sad epilogue at the end of Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small Quartet- Book IV- Lady Knight. Laila-fuzz (a friend) got it for me, even though I had already stolen her copy and read it. It's really sad. I don't like what happens to Haven. Anyways... so, yeah... no real independent plot, or a completely new plot? Or a plot that draws on what happened in the rest of the stories, like they all seem to draw on the whole WWW years. Blah. That was a sad story...but good! ALL HAIL NETTO! But isn't Netto Lan's middle name in the English version? Really, in the episode called "The Good Dog, Rush!", Haruka calls Lan "LAN NETTO HIKARI!" So, yeah...

Anime Master Zero, I gravel at your feet. No, wait, I GROVEL at your feet. There we go. Pretty story... pretty story with rapid updates and 77 chapters now. Pretty story that I couldn't hope to compare with. Pretty. Good plot, too. We love the ending of Fright Fight (I think chap. 71...). That was good, but sad. Brought a tear to my eye, that did. Anyways, I'm going to steal the inscription for use in the second (aka Skip Warp Fusion) ending, and eventually in either Warp Fusion, but definitely in the after Warp Fusion and stuff Stage. With your permission. PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

So, yeah... wonderful little rants there. Ignore me. I guess. And I've still to get up THE TRUE CLAUS thingy... we are so lazy....


	11. Not much more

**_Title:_** Secrets of the Undernet

**_Chapter 11:_** Not much more

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own, you do not sue. Or, the whole thing starting with 'Kay-fuzz does not own' and ends with, 'Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad'. 'Cause I am.

**_Summary:_** Eria recruits our favorite blue bomber to work for the URAUN- however, not as a member of the URAUN- just a spy. Lan finds out that blue-boy's gone missing, happily freaked out, and Yuuichiro happily let slip a 'clue' (notice the ''s) that he had been trying to say in TNP Parts 1 and 2. Oh, Quersoæn gets the grand tour of Tialsia's HP. Pretty Hp... pretty confusing, really.

**_Warning:_** I have no idea what I am going to write in this chapter. Everything comes randomly. Although I asked my friend (after giving her a breif descrip. of what's happened and everyone's pasts... although she somehow found that page on my webbie that explains it all, so I didn't really need to bother... and that's a good song.) what to do next, and she... well, she's a GREAT author... works for the paper, was part of Old Turtle last year (made it all the way to the National finals! ...oh, Old Turtle was a school-wide play that we put on last year, and won a couple awards for), and SHE could only come up with one idea which I was planning to happen now and in the chaps to come, anyways. What have I gotten myself into?

**_Rating:_** PG-13 (tho, I'm thinking of lowering the rating... nothing too WOW happens until the end... but it DOES still happen, so what should I do...?)

**_Song:_** _Tsubasa no Keikaku_ by Do As Infinity (DAI)

* * *

The Undernet. Not a place one would go for a vacation... unless you were evil, a theif, or just on the bad side of the law, then it was more like home, anyways. And certainly not a place where you would expect to find a structure resembling the great City of Troy. 

But find it we do, filled with weird-shapped creatures moving around, green things doing things, and a huge colliseum, where a number of those strange creatures were 'training'- aka trying to blow each other up, if the huge explosions and flashes of light were any indication.

But we're not interested in the Troy-look-alike. Nope, we're interested in another part of the Undernet, so far away that no one knows where it is. Not even the author, although it's more because she's too lazy to figure out where. But- that's off-topic. A small mound, not unlike those in the ruins of the old Undernet version of Net City, was the only thing in sight- and even then when I say small, I mean small. Barely big enough for it to be visible, it was there none-the-less. Of course, as small as it was, step on it and-_woosh-_ away you'd be whisked off to another part of the Undernet entirely. This part created by twelve females, all of whom extremely powerful in their own rights. All of whom 'work' for the URAUN, even though it's only out of necessity.

A labarynth of tunnels, after it's creation about... 12 hours ago, many programs, packets of data, and other sorts of life forms moved in, making it one of the safest (for those allowed in there) and dangerous places ever. And, not to mention, the perfect place to hide somethings- and someones.

"Can I go now? Please?"

"Why are you whining? You'll be back before long."

"So why not now?"

"We have to wait, smart one."

"...wait?"

"You dissapear-"

"That's your fault."

"-cause your opperator harm-"

"Also your fault."

"-and then re-appear magically from thin air?"

"Soon also to be because of you."

She rolled her eyes at the male Navi, dressed all in blue armour, in front of her."I'm sorry, as stupid as some of those other Navis under Guinto are, I doubt they'd honestly think that you were with your opperator this whole time."

He rolled his eyes, before glaring at her. "And I now re-iterate: This is all YOUR fault."

"It's my fault that you haven't been deleted?"

He was silent at that, and remained that way until Sunset poked her head back inside the Shaded Navi's chambers. "Eria, we're ready to go.Violet just got back with Sky- she can easily immitate any Net Vehicle. What should we choose?"

Eria shrugged as she stood up with the blue Navi. "Whatever there is that can fit two Navis- no more, no less."

"A Net-bike?"

"That works. Mega?" Eria addressed her blue-armoured companion.

"Why not? But what do you mean... 'immitate'?"

"Net Vehicles can only be downloaded using battlechips, right? But they're really program chips- meaning we solos don't have access to them like we do to other programs."

He nodded, following them out to the hallway again. Violet stood there, leaning against the opposite wall. "Hey- a few enw viruses came in. We've spread them through-out the kid's area."

Eria nodded in acknowledgement. "Good. You can do Net Bikes?"

Violet snorted. "That's what we came back on. You know how to drive one, though? 'Cause, I don't." She asked the question of Megaman, who had walked over to stand beside her.

"Yeah. We're taking Net Bikes all the way back?"

Violet snorted again. "Sorry, nope. Only way out is our way- I hope you don't mind another pit-fall trip like that last one."

The memory coming back to him, Megaman blanched. "About as much as getting stabbed."

"Good. You don't mind it then."

His eye twitched, but he said nothing, before turning to Eria as Violet looked about ready to go. "Eria?"

"Yes, Megaman?"

"Say bye to everyone for me?"

She grinned. "Of course. You take care- and the moment anything happens, you know what to do."

"Same to you."

"Naw... I'll just get one of these girls to go and get you again." He blanched again, not liking the chosen way of traveling. Eria's grin changed into a smirk. "Now now- you'll get used to it eventually."

"Gee- just what I always wanted..." He muttered, bowing to both Eria and Sunset before turning to Violet. She, although normally quite serrious, suddenly had a small smile on her face. He knew instinctively that all eleven Navis who served as Eria's Court were really good- just put in a difficult situation, as was their mistress. And it seemed that they knew that he could be trusted- even though he had a Net Op.

"Let's go." She stated, before he felt himself falling through another one of those stupid portals- well, before he blacked out, anyways.

* * *

Dinner was... uneventful to say the least. Well, maybe more than just uneventful. Silent, quiet, no noise- and whatever other words are out there that can be used to mean the word "silent". No one spoke, which was weird in itself, as Yuucihiro would normally be pronouncing his appreciation for the food (no matter how... unappetizing it looked), but he refrained from speaking, regardless. 

After dinner, Lan retreated to his room, Mayl, after helping to bring the dishes to the sink, dashed up the stairs after him. Haruka looked at Yuucihiro, before sitting beside him on the couch and allowing him to pull her into his arms.

"What should do? This... I couldn't stand it... if we lost Hub again..."

Yuucihiro tightened his hold on her, before relaxing. "If there's one thing I- we- know about those two, it's that they're both able to take care of themselves. Hub- Megeman- will be back tomorrow morning, Lan will be okay, and everything will be alright once we get Roll back."

"And Mayl will be there, always?"

Yuucihiro nodded. "It's not like she has a choice, I hate to say."

Haruka immitated her husband. "True... we need to tell them, and soon."

"They'll find out soon enough. We should tell them when Mayl's parents are here, though. Afterall, it was their decision as well."

"I know. But I'm worried- how will they react to this?"

"For the better, knowing them. But still..."

"Still..."

* * *

Both the redhead and the burnet sat in silence, unsure of what to say. After the... episode before dinner, both were feeling slightly uncomfortable around the other, and instead, did the one thing that they could do without seeming too nervous. 

They stared at the blank screens of their PETs, wondering if they would be getting any new information from the troups soon- Lan, sitting on the edge of his bed, Mayl, on the computer chair.

Until Lan decided that staring at inanimate objects could hurt your eyes, your back, your neck, your head, and your hands, wrists, and arms. So saying, he lent back on his bed against the wall, eyes turned to the sliding doors onto the balcony. Mayl watched him out of the corner of her eye, wondering what he was thinking about. After all, Lan thinking (usually) meant stupid plan, stupid saying, stupid... something.

"Mayl?"

She blinked, and turned to completely look at him, standing up. "Yes, Lan?"

He remained silent again, before reaching forward and pulling her down beside him, anarm around her waist, her head on his chest. She was surprised by this, but decided not to question his actions. Slowly, she relaxed into the position, and felt him relax as well- apparently, he was just as nervous as herself. She finally let her head rest all it's weight on his chest, closing her eyes, PET on the bed in front of her.

She could have fallen asleep if a warm, gentle hand hadn't begun to... well, it seemed like he was almost petting her head. She felt his fingers weave in and out of her hair, looping it around his fingers, tangling them up in the red strands. Although startled at first, she found this to be a pleasant sensation, and quickly relaxed under his touch.

Her hands somehow found their way up to his bandana, and gently tugged that off, raising her head to look at him. Following the messy, now-unbound strands of hair, she found his eyes- and wished she hadn't.

A deep well of emotions lay there, anger, frustration, annoyance, pain, but also something that made her heart stop before rappidly speeding up, her gut clench, her breath catch in her throat. An unbrideled caring, kindness, _love_ lay there, easily the deepest, and yet most obvious emotion.

Not daring to ruin the closeless, she instead let her hands trail down from his hair to his face. She gently traced his lips, his cheeks, his eyes, his nose- any part of his face that she could reach. Her hands then slowly lowered down to his chest, where she gave a contented sigh as she balled her fists in his vest. His other arm snaked around her waist as he continued to play with her hair.

Silence reigned again- this time, however, it was not uncomfortable. If anything, any noise would have easily broken the mood, and both were far too relaxed for that to happen.

Eventually, his hand stopped playing with her hair, and joined his other hand around her waist. However, the movement caused the area that had been nice and warm on her back (which was under his arm) to suddenly get a bit colder, and she pulled herself tighter to him.

He looked down at her, before shifting his body so that her head was nearer his shoulder, before leaning his own head ontop of hers gently.

Both basked in the warmth from the other- well, until that always dredded beeping sound alerted them to an e-mail.

After beeping a few times (and neither Lan nor Mayl moving), Haruka and Yuucihiro poked their heads in the door, curious as to what would be keeping the two from seeing if there was any new information on their missing partners. Both froze at the position the two were in, a gentle grin playing on both their faces.

Slowly, Mayl reached out and picked up the PET laying beside her on the bed, before pressing the button to see the mail. Yai's voice filled the room.

"Mayl? Are you there?"

Haruka had to stiffle her giggles and Yuucihiro his chuckle as everyone in the vicinity realized that it was not an e-mail: it was a video confrence.

"Er, yes, Yai?" Mayl quickly said, sitting up straight as Lan fell over, his head floping on his pillow, trying to make it look like he had been like that the whole time.

A small silence was heard as Yai obviously tried to figure out what was going on, before shurgging and seemigly giving up (also known, in Yai-speak, as "I'll figure it out later") and continuing on with what she was going to say.

"The amount of info isstill pretty low on Roll, but Quersoæn just left with the reports to givetoTialsia. And Megaman's basically disappeared. But, knews is that a strange line of Net Bikes have been traveling around the net, in the general direction of ACDC."

Lanblinked. "What aboutNet Bikes?"

A groan was heard from the other side of the communications. "Lan's there too? Now I'm going to have to explain this in stupid." Lan growled lightly at that comment and Mayl giggled, before turning back to Yai.

"But, really Yai, what does this Net Bike and Navis have to do with anything?"

"Mayl, the Net Bikesare unregistered, and it's a model unlike any we've ever seen. I don't know why, but Chaud thinks that it might have something to do with this, and the Navis on them, too. As much as I don't like trusting his judgement-" A noise that sounded like someone arguing was heard in the background- "I have to say that he might be right about this one. Keep on your toes, okay?"

Mayl blinked, and nodded, just before she looked over at Lan and noticed something: his face was slowly contorting into a grimace, and it looked like the situation from earlier was repeating itself. Her face contorted in worry seeing this, and Yai was qick to pick up on the look.

"Mayl? What's wr-"

"Yai, I'll talk to you later, okay?" Mayl finished off, before ending the communication. She dropped her PET, and let her entire attention focus on Lan. By now, his face was filled with pain, nearly as bad as it was that afternoon.Mayl, gasped as she felt his forehead, and quickly made him lay down fully on the bed.

Haruka, in the doorway, nearly gasped and ran into the room, but Yuuichiro stopped her- to his eyes, it looked like Lan and Mayl had been through one of these weird... instances before, while the others- or Yai, at least, had probably no idea of them. He took Haruka by the wrist and led her down stairs, away from Lan's room.

When they were both seated on the couch, Haruka turned to the stairs, looking at them worriedly. Yuucihiro kept his hand on her wrist, holding her to the seat.

"Haruka... they've been through this before, whatever this is. They know what to do, and we'd probably just hinder them." He explained as patiently as possible to his wife who was now struggling to get out of his grasp.

"You don't know that! And Lan looked like he was in pain! I need to go see Lan, I need to help him, I need to-"

"Calm down and stop worrying. If it was really serrious, Lan, or at least Mayl, would have already told us about it."

"How do you-"

"I don't know. But I trust them- if Mayl needs help, she knows we're here."

"For me?"

"...fine. But don't think that this gets you out of doing the dishes!"

* * *

Back up in Lan's room, Mayl had quickly went to work taking offLan's vest and shirt the moment she heard the door close. His bandana was now wrapped around her hand, his vest and shirt on the computer chair and floor (having missed the computer chair), and as the main wave finished, he was left gasping on the bed, sweat trickling down his face. His eyes were still closed, trying to block out the pain. 

Mayl watched helplessly as he fought this internal battle. She had done all she could for him, including holding his hand tightly, and now she had time to think. What was this illness? Was it an illness at all, or something else? And-

_'I hate to say it, but either Lan should get more of these attacks or we should go swimming more. Wait... don't tell I just though what I think I just though... oh God... kill me now.'_

Her internal struggle prevented her from truly trying to help Lan, which was made even more obvious by his sudden cry of pain.

However, that brought her back to the real world, where she then dutifully used the sky blue bandana to gently mop his fevered brow as the final wave passed over, and he was able to breathe somewhat normally again. She studied his features, trying to discern if he was getting better, or if it was coming back for round... three now, but regardless, her eyes always somehow found their way to his lips and her mind to the incident that-

_'Wo. Stop, right there. That NEVER happened, not as long as I'm alive! But still- NO! WHAT AM I DOING THINKING THAT! Get back to Lan... who looks... GRR! JUST. STOP. THINKING!'_

Not that that worked. Her mind was continuously brought back to certain thoughts that she would rather be rid of. It continued like this, until Mayl nearly collapsed from all the brain-work she had done.

_'Now I know what they mean by "working yourself to death". God, I could die right now and not care... too tired...'_

Mayl nearly did fall asleep- until a soft mumbling roused her from her semi-conciousness. Lan was now muttering, whether in sleep (at which thought her eye gave a definate _twitch_) or in fever (at which she uncounciously stroaked his cheek) she did not know.

Finally, he opened his eyes to see Mayl sitting over him, a worried expression on her face. "M... Mayl?"

She blinked, and her concentration focused on his eyes (he began to wonder what she was looking at before), when her expression changed to one of relief and she basically-

glomped him.

"Lan! Lan, O God, Lan! Don't DO that!"

"I would... if I... Mayl... could... Could you... please... GET OFF OF ME!"

She jumped back in surprise, her face now showing guilt. "Er... sorry, Lan. Should I have not...?"

After a few minutes of hacking and trying to get his breathing pattern back into proper sequence (_'Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.'_), he answered her with a small, "Not right then, no. Now, however..."

She rolled her eyes, whacking him lightly over the head. Of course, that was before she noticed how she shuddered, more than likely due to the slightly opened window letting some cool air blast onto his sweat-soaked skin. She grinned gently, about to stand up to get his shirt and vest when he stopped her by his hand. Looking at him questioningly, she sighed, seeing that he would not conceed defeat to the cold air at that moment.

Instead, she lay down beside him, wrapping her arms around his torso and trying to make herself cover as much of his body as possible. He stiffened, before relaxing, and pulling the thin sheet around them. Her only response as exhaustion finally won over worry was to cuddle in closer to him, and, wrapping his arms around her as well, he also gave in to the imaginary land of 'green skies, purple clouds, blue grass and crimson seas' **(1)**.

* * *

Yai frowned as she put down her PET. Although Chaud was still glaring at her for her earlier comment, she completely ignored him, and focused on the task at hand. 

_'What happened? Was Lan in some kind of pain? I've never known Mayl to look that worried...'_

So lost in her thoughts did she completely forget that everyone else was by now finsihed trading information, and was waiting for news from the two instigators of this whole mess. It took Chaud, a crack about her company, and some rude noises from Dex and another boy from their class to make Yai realize that there were still other people in the room.

"Er... yes, so... what?"

Chaud rolled his eyes. "You were about to tell us what's up with Hikari and Sakurai."

Cue one BIG glare at Chaud (the comment about her company had finally sunken in), before Yai began. "Well... she was with Lan-" Dex took this moment to growl "-and neither really seemed to be too interestedin any news. Actually, when Mayl _finally_opened the line, it was like I was interupting something.

"Then, just before she cut the line, Mayl looked... down, almost, at where Lan probably was, and she looked like he was having a heart attack or something."

Her words created silence inYai's meetingroom, filled with nearly fifty people. Some looked uncertainly at each other, others were deep in thought, and some were even whispering amongst themselves. Chaud, coming to a decision, stood up and drew everyone's attention to the front.

"Alright. Whatever was wrong, it's not our business. We're in this to help find Roll- and now Megaman- not to meddle in their Net-ops personal affairs. Do everyone a favor and ask yourself why you're in this group: whether to help those four, or to snoop around and feel like you're part of something.

"Make your decision- we have so many people that information keeps getting repeated, and we don't need everyone. Now go home, think about it, and if you really want to help still, meet at the Hall tomorrow at nine. Got it?"

A unanimous nod rippled through the room, before someone from the back called out, "Hey! Chaud! Why are you in this?"

Chaud, having turned around to walk out of the room, did not stop walking and instead called over his shoulder, "Because without Megaman and Lan, I have no real opponent. And without Roll and Mayl, they have no real drive to do anything."

With that, he walked out the door, it slamming closed behind him, leaving everyone lots of things to think about.

* * *

Quersoæn groaned as she stumbled through the door into Tialsia's HP. The information that she had gathered- and had no time to sort- was a lot, and extremely heavy. And just because that the different viruses that guarded the hidden mansion (as Quersoæn had discovered a number of guest rooms, washrooms, lounges and a HUGE kitchen on the other side of the trans-yard, not to mention the back half of the house where she was not allowed to go) let her through did not mean that the other Navis who wandered the virus-infested area for safety or other reasons were too keen to let her pass. 

_'Good thing that they always stick kind of close to the viruses. One whistle and BAM! No more Net Navi... I feel kinda bad, though...'_

Quersoæn then began searching out Tialsia, only to find the other Navi in the middle of one of the ponds- swimming.

"Er... Tialsia?"

The Navi in question looked up, and grinned. "Quersoæn! Would you like to join me?"

Quersoæn sweatdropped. "Er... no... thanks... listen, I have the information for you. But I didn't get the chance to sift through it."

"Of course you didn't- that's my job. Now... do you want some to eat?" Tialsia asked as she stood up and climbed out of the pond. Grabbinga towel that had been thrown on the walk way, she wrapped it around herself and proceeded towards the kitchen.

Quersoæn nodded, and followed Tialsia, careful to stand back when the other Navi switched from bikini to 'normal' clothes. One hour, many mistakes, and a final, delicious batch of spaghetti and meat sauce later, both were sitting around in Tialsia's office, looking at all the info.

"Couldn't you have at least gotten rid of all the duplicates?" Tialsia sighed as she- once again- deleted some information that she could have sworn she'd seen at least six times now.

"I told you- I didn't have- hold up, what's this?"

Tialsia blinked and walked over to where Quersoæn was looking at something that Chaud had sent in.

_Day 9_

_Rumours of a group of Net Navis with strange, unregistered Net Bikes have been spread around (though this will probably be in everyone else's reports)._

(Tialsia snorted. "Ya think?")

_At about noon today, Megaman.EXE's signal went missing, in about the same fashion as Roll._

("Uh, yeah, we were there.")

_Some Navis have also reported strange goings-on in the Undernet. Requesting more information on these movements._

("What, he thinks that I can just dig up info from nowhere?"

"Well, you have to admit, you do have some pretty reliable sources...")

_Also reuqesting information on Megaman.EXE and Lan Hikari's connections to each other, and what could possibly be wrong with Lan._

_C.B. and Protoman_

Tialsia's eye twitched as Quersoæn blinked. "...connections? They're Net Navi and Net op, aren't they?"

Tialsia sighed. "Techinically, yes. However... certain... bonds are formed between people. These bonds can change the way a person sees themselves, the world around them, other people. And the way they feel about these things- both mentally, like love, and physically."

"...physically?"

"Too lazy to explain. Okay, I'm gonna go do the rough draft on this to get Chaud, Protoman and the rest of these no-brained bakas off our tail, and you keep deleting everything that's a duplicate!"

Quersoæn rolled her eyes as Tialsia hopped off to the Temple. "...lucky me..."

* * *

Yup, and there's the end of another chapter... which is really, really short. I need to stop being so lazy... and update quicker... well, this one, and at least Running going up together, with maybe another one-shot: my debut in the IY section! Go me! Go me! 

Yeah... wrote this during a Comm. Tech class. Bad child.

_**Notes**_

(1) This is something that my friend and I painted for one of the very few Art projects in school- we called in "Symphony of Dreams", and had really random colors and absract shapes in it. Based on a dream I had the night before we had to design this. Really fun, though.

2) Yeah... not much more happened... wow, am I a lazy person... right, well... more next chappie! Which will be comming... soon! I think!

**And now, an extra little thingy for all of you wonderful people who actually READ this! The message that Tialsia ends up sending to Chaud and Protoman! Why is it here, and not in the next chapter? 'Cause I thought that there just wasn't... ENOUGH, let's say, in this chappie. TA-DAH!**

**

* * *

**

_Chaud and Protoman_

_I have no idea WHY you would need information on Megaman, or Megaman and Lan's connection. Care to explain it to me? I'm coming in later today (Day 14) to see how things are going, so tell me then. Here's the information that you asked for, regardless._

_Those two (Megaman and Lan) have an unnaturally strong connection- however, even with my... restrictions, I can tell you that many times, what one experiences the other does also, if only as a head ache. Also pretaining to that, sometimes interference with the connection between them (which hardly ever happens) can cause one or both to feel pain. And there are also some delays between the signals, which means that when one feels the pain, it might have happened to the other seconds, minutes, or years ago- therefore, if something is wrong with Lan (what is wrong, anyways?), it could just as easily be a delayed response to some kind of pain from the past._

_Regardless, whenever Lan and Megaman are not together, as long as you keep an eye on one, you should be able to see what the other thinks, feels, or how they're acting by the emotions and feelings of the other._

_DONT TELL ANYONE ELSE THIS, OR FEEL MY WRATH! ...and I'm SURE we don't want that now, do we?_

_Give me more, USEFUL, information next time, guys. Thanks for the three million copies of "random biker gang", though. And "Megaman's gone missing". Just don't do this again._

_Tialsia.EXE_

**

* * *

**


	12. Returns and Sickness

**_Title:_** Secrets of the Undernet

**_Chapter 12_**: Returns and Sickness

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own, you do not sue. Or, the whole thing starting with 'Kay-fuzz does not own' and ends with, 'Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad'.

**_Warning:_** Insane stupidity here- not me, the peoples. Darn them...

**_Rating:_** T... I think...**

* * *

**

Black, more black, blackness... ooh, there were some colors. No, wait, those were just the colors on the inside of his eyes from squeezing them shut so tightly.

And... ("OOF!") that was the floor. Why did floors have to be so hard? I mean, why couldn't they be nice and squishy? Then falls like this one wouldn't hurt so much. Actually, any fall wouldn't hurt so much. And then one could sleep on the floor... well, if there wasn't that annoying revving in his ears. Wait a second...

Revving?

Slowly opening his eyes, Megaman took a good look around him. They were in a semingly abandonned area of the Cyber Matrix, with a strange pattern on the floor in black. Ignoring that as one of the odities of the Network, he instead turned to the pre-mentioned 'revving'.

Violet stood over him, a black Net Bike with silver and white detailing beside her. She smirked down at him, and he groaned, realizing that she probably thought he was a wimp- or that he had passed out. He slowly stood up, before walking over even slower to her and leaning on the bike.

"How long...?"

Violet shrugged. "I dunno. You were laying there for about thirty seconds after I woke up, though. Not bad, considering on your first trip you were out for a good hour at least."

He grumbled, trying to figure out whether what she said was a compliment or an insult, before swining a leg over the Net Bike, feeling some of his energy be replenished. She eyed him, and he turned around, an eye twitching. "Well? Are you getting on or not?"

Violet shrugged, swinging over the bike behind him and loosely wrapping her arms around his waist. "Alright then. Tell me if you're going to go really fast."

"Yeah yeah." He muttered, before turning around. "Wait a second. When I woke up, there was a revving noise, but I thought that you didn't know how to drive a Net Bike?"

Violet blinked, before her usual impassiveness appeared on her face. "There wasn't any revving. Are you sure you're okay enough to drive?"

"Well, whether I am or not, I want to get back to L- er, my Op, so if you don't want to be on the bike with me..."

"Sorry, but you can't get rid of me that easily. Eria's orders: Get you back to your Op safely, and make sure you stay there."

He rolled his eyes, revved the engine, and gunned it. Violet nearly shreeked before getting used to the un-natural speed, and leaned down as the blue Navi infront of her was, allowing them to go even faster. They were out of the open area within barely two seconds, a dust cloud and tail-wind forming beind them.

On a ledge above the area, hidden in darkness, a group of Navis standing with other 'special' Net Bikes looked at the two as they quickly disappeared out of site.

"Not bad... might be an interesting race, don't you think?" One muttered as the others all made low sounds of approval. "I want one person on that blue navi, 24/7. No one, and I mean no one, gets to hurt him- not until I get what I want. I leave it to you. Now, go!"

Everyone except for the single dark figure disappeared out of site, while the one remaining Navi smirked, a small amount of light shining off his red armor.

* * *

Lan and Mayl slowly woke up slowly, unsure of where they were. Well, until somehow their eyes ended up meeting. Silence reined over the room, until- 

"WHAA!"

Yuuichiro and Haruka burst into the room, the surprise on their faces turning to smiles, staring at the scene in front of them. Both Lan and Mayl, having had screamed in surprise, were currently sitting on opposite sides of the bed, holding either their hearts or head, trying to calm their breathing.

Yuuichiro chuckled while Haruka dragged him out of the room, calling to the two as they left, "Breakfast will be ready in ten!"

Slowly, Lan and Mayl's eyes met each other again, a heavy blush appearing on their faces. Both quickly looked away again, wondering what the other was thinking. Another silence filled the room, before Mayl stood up, gathered his shirt, vest, and bandana, and held them in her arms, sitting down beside him. She sighed then, leaning her head on his shoulder, and he slowly wrapped one of his arms around her waist.

Their blushes intensified, eyes not meeting each other- but, none-the-less, they sat in a now-comfortable silence, simply existing.

Well, before the unmistakeable sound of a motor cycle was heard through-out the room (drowning out Haruka's call of "Breakfast is on the table!" and Yuuicihiro's "I don't think they're listening..."). Both blinked before turning to the computer screen (Lan quickly slipping on his shirt, vest and bandana). Instead of who they hopped to see (looking at the HP), they instead found the slightly smaller (but not by much) group of search Navis, with Protoman standing at the front (beside his Net Bike), looking for all the world like some kind of king.

Lan rolled his eyes at the sight, while Mayl shook her head. The slight motions caused them to be noticed by the Navis and their Net-ops, most of whom had never actually seen either Lan or Mayl- well, besides on the TV or sitting in the audience, during the N1 Grand Prix. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the two (more so Lan, who was nothing short of famous for coming in second in the N1, and the defeat of the Virus Best).

Mayl sighed, standing up. She turned to Lan saying, "I'll go down and get breakfast. Fill me in on what happens?", and waved at the screen before leaving the room. Now everyone's attention was focused on Lan, who's blush (which had noticably paled when Mayl had left) increased ten-fold.

"Er... morning?"

Chaud smirked. "You're actually up this early? It's... what, ten? Eleven? Noon?"

Lan glared slightly. "Ha ha. Now... what's up?"

As Chaud and Protoman started organizing everyone into groups, and told them to try to not repeat the same information, Lan sighed and leaned back. The last few days were taxing on him- not so much physically, but really mentally, especially with all the strange emotions running rampant through him.

As everyone headed off for the day, Chaud and Protoman cast a look back at Lan, who seemed to be staring at the ceiling. Deciding that the currently Navi-less Op wouldn't mind them not being there, Protoman stepped onto one of the many links which had somehow filled up the HP, and went off to the Hall, to see if anyone hadn't been able to make it to the meeting and needed to be filled in.

The small beep signalling that the last guest had left the HP startled Lan out of his thoughts, making him look down at the screen. Seeing no one there, he turned over onto his back, and buried his head in the sheets.

That was just about how Mayl found him when she entered the room barely two minutes later with their breakfast. Not having the heart to tell him to move, she set the food down on the desk carefully, trying to not make any noise. Carefully making her way over to the bed, Mayl sat down lightly beside Lan and gently rubbed his back.

His eyes flickered open, and he looked at her. "...Mayl? What-"

**CRASH**

Both blinked and turned to look at the computer screen where a mainly black with silver and white trim Net Bike was happily squishing it's two riders, who were on the HP floor- and arguing. Loudly.

"Why did you try to take the controls!"

"Because I wanted to drive!"

"You said you didn't know how!"

"I know! So sue me!"

"I think I will- for bodily injury!"

"We can't sue for bodily injury! We're Net Navis!"

"What's your point?"

"My point is-"

"Er... Lan? Mayl?"

Both teens rushed over to the computer screen, looking intently at the two figures there, barely visible beneath the bulk of the Net Bike."Megaman?"

The blue bomber grinned and pushed the bike off him and into the air, where it quickly returned to the small bits of data it was created from. Violet slowly stood, unsure whether she should leave or not. Lan and Mayl were staring openly at her, until Mayl noticed what they were doing and, whapping Lan on the back of his head, she addressed Megaman.

"How are you? Where were you? And who's this?"

"Mainly where were you, though."

"LAN!"

"What? You would be asking the same thing!"

"But not mainly that!"

"So? I-"

"LAN! MAYL!" Megaman ended up screaming out, Violet looking shocked before deciding that this seemed to be normal for them. "I'm fine, thanks for asking. In all honesty, I'm not sure what it's called, or where it is exactly, but that's where I met Violet. She showed me how to get back. Violet, this is Lan and Mayl."

Violet bowed slightly to them, muttering, "Nice to meet you," before bowing once to Megaman, stepping on the link, and getting out of there asap.

Mayl blinked. "Er... yes... so... who was that?"

"Violet- a friend. She's originally from the Undernet. I asked her and her... er... 'sisters', let's say, to keep an eye out for Roll and to tell me if anything happens."

"Oh."

"Cool."

"...so... you wanna go look for Roll now?"

Megaman groaned. "I would love to- if I can recharge for about half an hour."

Lan nodded. "Sure. In the meantime- LET'S EAT!"

* * *

Guinto smirked, hearing the report from one of his squadrons. 

"Well, Violet is helping the blue brat? Maybe the other females are too, then. Keep an eye on them."

The Biker squad bowed before speeding out of the room, their 'engines' loud and clear against the normal hustle and bustle of the large palace.

Nightman looked over at the leader of the URAUN, watching his movments carefully. Guinto was upset, annoyed- angered, almost, beyound anything Nightman had ever seen before, and the younger Navi couldn't understand why. The Upper Navis hadn't done anything recently, and everything seemed to be going fine for the URAUN- with the exception of this Violet-Megaman thing- but there shouldn't be any need for the usually emotionless leader to show emotion.

Guinto noticed Nightman staring at him, and in turned stared back, this prompting a three-second contest, which Nightman quickly lost. "Sorry, Guinto."

Guinto snorted. "Nightman. I want you to take a small squad of the most trusted Navis- preferably only around two or three others- and go search some of the darker parts of the net. Anything so obviously out-of-place, report it immediately and have someone stay there with it. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Nightman bowed, before going to find some others to help him.

Guinto glared at the now-closed door, imagining Eria walking through there, with that special power of hers ready to be used.

"It will be mine. She will make it mine. And it- she- will be no one else's."

* * *

Lan stretched, getting ready for some Navi-searching. 

"Alright, Megaman. Ready to face the wrath of the pysco-leaders?"

Megaman laughed in return as Mayl quickly whapped Lan over the head again, a small smile on her face.

"They're going to kill me, I know it." The blue bomber replied, causing his Op to shrug.

"Not like that hasn't happened before."

"HEY!"

Mayl frowned. "Play nice you two, or don't play at all."

Megaman smirked while Lan succomed to being whapped, punched, kicked and just plain hit for a very off-the-cuff comment that had somehow reached Mayl's ears. "I'll just be going now..."

Lan nodded, recovering slowly while Mayl stalked out of the room, "To get some soap for your mouth," or something along those lines.

Linking to the Hall, he was quite surprised when nearly all the Navis there jumped and/or dropped what they were holding, meeped, and scampered away from him.

Megaman sighed, about to say something, when a very big, very strong hand clapped him on the back. "Welcome back, Megaman."

Said blue bomber gasped, smiling gently as he tried to catch his breath. "Oh... yeah... feeling great, Risuko... ow..."

Risuko looked worriedly down on the smaller navi. "I did not hurt you, did I?"

Forcing himself to stand up straight (and wishing that he had been paying more attention) Megaman nodded. "Oh, no. I'm fine."

"Megaman!"

Turning his attention to the stair-like... thing, he briefly saw something that looked like Protoman, before it turned into a quick flash of red as the raider jumped down to land in front of him.

"There you are! Where have you been?"

Megaman sighed. "I think I just went through all these questions with Lan."

Chaud's eye twitched, having opened a viewing screen upon hearing Protoman cry out. "Well, you're going to answer them again."

Another eye twitched- this one being Megaman's. "And if I don't feel like it?"

A third twitch- Protoman. "You still have to answer the question, kid."

One final twitch- Risuko. "Can you PLEASE get back to researching whatever you are doing? If not, OUT OF THE HALL."

Stalking away, three pairs of eyes followed the larger form of the navi, before Megaman shook his head. "Listen. I don't know where I was. All I know was that I met another Navi there- Violet- who's originally from the Undernet. She helped me get back, and promised to look out for Roll there, too."

Chaud and Protoman blinked, before the former went back to whatever he was doing before hand, and the latter grabbed Megaman by the elbow and began leading him back up the stairs. "You're staying here, where we can keep an eye on you, kid."

Megaman frowned, wanting to protest, but remembered the little de-briefing that Lan and Mayl had given him before going back to the Hall.

He sighed, which quickly turned to a grin as he saw another familiar Navi. "Hey, Quersoæn!"

Said navi blinked and looked up from her work. "Hm? Oh, MEGAMAN! You're back! Er, here! Er... not where ever you were! How are you?"

Megaman laughed. "You're the first person to be concerened about how I am. And I'm fine, thanks."

"That's good. Tialsia would have my head if not. And, er- are you going to help us search?"

Megaman sighed. "I think that's just about the only thing I'm allowed to do."

Quersoæn shook her head, before letting Megaman quickly check up on some of the files he had been following. Taking them, he retreated to a back corner, where people would be less likely to notice him, being hidden behind lots of shelves of tons of files.

It was here Protoman cornered him. "So."

Megaman blinked. "Er... what is it, Protoman?"

Protoman eyed him, before slowling sitting down beside the bomber. "Are you really feeling okay?"

"Well... not one hundred percent, but pretty close to. Why?"

The raider looked as though he didn't want to say what he was going to- or didn't know how to phrase it. "Megaman... when you were... well, gone... something happened to Lan. No reason, no excuse, and the rest of us have no information on it. Mayl might know something, but it's becoming harder and harder to talk to her."

"...that sounds like the most you've ever said in one go, Protoman."

"Whatever, kid. You have any idea?"

"Hm... some strange ways of transportation, but other than that, I can't think of anything that would harm Lan. And even then, why would anything I do hurt him?" Megaman looked suspiciously at the other, wondering how much he had found out in just a few hours.

"It's nothing, just a suspicion." Protoman stood up, and made his way out of the alcove. Before he left, however, Protoman paused for a moment, calling back over his shoulder, "Be careful, kid...

"Hub..."

Megaman stopped, looking at the raider's retreating back. Submerging himself into his thoughts, the hybrid couldn't concentrate on anything else for the next few hours.

* * *

Eria glared at the leader of the URAUN from her position at the foot of this throne pedestal. "What is it, Guinto?" 

Said leader smirked in response, gesturing to the conspicuously empty room. "No one is here- they're off training, or working, or following my orders."

She tilted her head towards the ceiling, eyes remaining on Guinto, watching his every movement. "Alright. A private meeting. Tell me- what is so important and secret that you send everyone else out of the room, and seal it off from eavesdroppers?"

Guinto stood up and walked slowly down the steps, coming to stand beside Eria- while she still faced the throne, he faced the large double-doors at the end of the hall. "You see, Eria, there is a rumour among certain people in certain levels of society. A rumour that, if it were true, could over-throw everything, and bestow unlimited power on whoever holds it."

Eria simply turned her head slightly. "Oh? And what do you want me to do? Find it for you?"

Guinto laughed. "No, Eria. Not find it... exactly."

"But still, on some level, find it."

He paused, before coninuing. "Every once in a while, it is said in those circles that someone is a key to finding it- someone who, if only subconciously, knows exactly where it is and how to use it."

"And you think that that person is me?"

"No." Guinto said slowly, running the idea- not for he first time- through his mind. "I think that you- on a subconcious level- know who the key is."

"And you want me to find this person for you, so that they can find the key for you."

Guinto was silent, and Eria, although fuming inside, remained emotionless outside. She turned away from him, stalking out of the area. Anyone who got in her way felt her wrath, regardless of who they were or their position.

About to go back to her 'special' place, she was suddenly aware of what the consequences of that action, and instead changed her mind. She needed to go talk to someone, someone who understood her mind-set... someone that might be able to help her...

She moved into an open area of the net, and, sighing, stepped through a link. As much as she didn't like the Cyber Matrix, there was no way getting around going there this time.

* * *

Risuko looked upon the throng of Navis that had- quite uncerimoniously and loudly- just entered the Hall. Frowning, he wanted to tell them off for the noise level, but remembered the sudden re-appearance of the blue bomber, and instead merely shushed them- not that they payed attention. 

Upon deciding to go check on the hybrid, Risuko found him sitting in a small corner, away from everything else, and frowning at the ground. Of coruse, worried for the other's mental stability and a number of other things, Risuko suggested that he at least sit at a table. Mega, however, merely said that he liked the corner. Risuko frowned, but uploaded a table and four chairs from one of the back-up servers, and placed it in the corner.

Although unsure of the sudden act of kindness, Mega gratefully took a seat at the table- and had been sitting there for the rest of the time, staring at a seemingly random packet of data that had appeared just after Risuko left.

And, wondering what had happened to him, any and all Navis that were able to make their way to the Hall had decided to hide behind a stack of books, and watch over the one who many considered to be their 'guardian angel'.

The rest decided to tail Protoman, another 'angel' sent from heaven.

Risuko shook his head, deciding to let the Navis have their fun. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, and the sudden appearance of so many Navis, especially those from the Undernet, did not bode well.

He was about to go 'shoo' some of the newer Navis away from the specially restricted sections, when another Navi walked through the door. Normally, Risuko wouldn't mind or care about some Navi walking through the door. What he did care about was that she was new- meaning she would have had to fight off the swarms of viruses outside- and yet she wasn't tired at all. Her HP was higher than the most customized of Navis, there wasn't a single mark, dent, or scratch on her armor and she walked with her head high, forest green eyes scrutenizing everything.

Risuko watched her move over to the stairs, and for a moment his interest was piqued. But moments later a crash was heard, and his attention was diverted to the other new Navis, having somehow managed to blow up a large portion of the restircted area.

He sighed, and walked over to them, looking back at the new Navi. He certainly hoped that she would not be any kind of hindrance to what everyone was doing- especially Mega.

* * *

Said blue bomber was reclining in the chair, staring at the data packet again. He had found it moments after Risuko had uploaded the table and chairs, originally just some extra data that came along with the set. But, after some poking, he had been able to make it into a semi-normal packet, and was watching it as it changed from one kind to another, no real purpose in mind it seemed. 

It changed color, too, which was strange- data packets usually remained the strange, aqua color, though slightly differing in shades. This one changed from reds to blues to greens to yellows, and every shade in between.

He had heard a number of Navis moving by his hidden area- and knew that every single one of them had stopped to look at him, maybe to check if he was okay, or if he was real. Prodding the packet with his finger, he noticed that it had began to change colors far more rapidly, as though reacting to something. He prodded it again, but when it didn't stop, he changed his arm into his buster and prodded it for the millionth time it seemed.

It didn't stop- if anything, the changing sped up so that it whizzed by his eyes, almost impossible to see.

"Mega?"

The whispered question made him start and look up, his eyes finding something else to stare at now. Having no attention or thought of anyone to hold it in existance, the datapacket simply disintegrated, leaving no data behind. Megaman frowned at that, but let his concentration wander back to the person who had taken one of the seats at the table, the other Navis there staring on in amazement.

Megaman blinked a few times, before he sighed and sat back in his seat, trying to relax- and failing miserably. "Eria... what brings you here?"

She sighed, proper and 'royal' countance dropping all at once and slamming her head into the table. Mumbling something, she tilted her head a fraction of an inch and eyed him, wondering what his reaction would be.

Mega blinked. "...what did you say?"

She used her hands to lever herself up off the table and looked at him then, questioningly. "I said I think I need help."

He sighed. "Don't we all? Alright... what do you need help with?"

Ignoring the question, she blinked and looked around. "Wasn't there a data packet around here?"

He sighed, forgetting what he asked. "Well, there was... and it was really weird, too." This seemed to pique her interest, and he continued on. "Well, it just randomly formed out of some spare data,and it wasn't just a blue or green- it changed colors, randomly. And it started to changer faster just a few moments ago."

She blinked at him, and leaned forward. "That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'?"

Eria stretched then, leaning back to mirror his position. "Anything like this ever happen before?"

He blinked. "Why? Should it have?"

Eria shrugged. "I dunno."

"And why are you playing detective?"

Eria smirked and waggled a finger at him. "No way. I believe I was the one asking the questions, and you were the one answering."

Mega tilted his head slowly, eyeing her, a small smirk on his face. "Really? Then I don't suppose that you would be kind enough to answer my questions afterwards?"

"It depends how helpful you are with your answers."

"Fair enough. Shoot."

"Alright. One: has this ever happened before?"

"Didn't you just-" seeing one of those looks on her face, though, he quickly re-thought his answer. "Not recently, no."

"Recently? So this has happened before?"

"I'm not sure- I don't remember much from about a year or two ago back."

"You're being very vague."

"You're being very annoying. Next question."

Eria looked at him again, this time in a whole new light, before sighing. "I don't suppose you have some free time?"

His eyes darkened. "I'm not going-"

"I'm not asking you to go anywhere- okay, I am. But for a walk, to get rid of all these eavesdroppers."

At that his eyes lightened. "If that's all, then sure."

She nodded, as did he, and, both standing, they made their way out of the Hall.

* * *

Chaud groaned, glaring at the screen of the PET currently sitting on his desk, seeing the figures displayed on it rise and fall ridicuously quickly, too fast for his eyes to keep up with. Giving up, he pushed back from his chair, walking over to some windows that showed the city skyline. 

A slight haze covered the city, product of a strange, sudden, heat wave, brining with it sweltering temperatures and the wish that the AC Penguins hadn't been made and/or tampered with by Grave. It also came with ice cream trucks, long line-ups at the nearest Ben and Jerry's, Baskin Robbins and/or other ice cream joint, long line-ups at pools,a sudden surge of people trying to buy pools, sprinklers, and water fountains, and many employees slacking off work.

It was probably too bad, then, that BlazeQuest employeed the greatest number of workers in ACDC, Akihara Region.

It was also too bad that the vice-president of AyanoTech loved pink- as proclaimed the bright pink limo currently driving up the driveway towards the main building.

"Protoman, what is Yai doing here?" He asked, glancing over his shoulderat the PET screen again and the red figure who stood beside the constantly-changing window.

"I'm not sure, sir. But Megaman left the Hall just a few moments ago, accompanied by an unidentified female Navi."

Chaud turned his attention fully to the screen. "Do you have a picture?"

Another window popped up in answer to his question, and Chaudstarred at the figure protrayedwithin. "Is it just me, or does she remind you of Roll?"

Protoman nodded. "There is an uncanny resemblance- but it seems their countenances are completely different- there is no way they can be the same."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then I highly doubt that Megaman would give up looking for Roll."

"That's not what I meant, either."

"Then I highly doubt that Megaman would choose someone else over Roll."

Chaud glanced at his Navi slowly. "And why would you say that?"

The red raider shrugged. "He shows an almost... human compassion for others, and a deep loyalty to those who he holds close, as has been proven constantly in the last year."

Chaud paused for a moment, hearing the buzzing on his intercom.A voice came through quickly, "Would you let us in?"

TheVP of BlazeQuest smirked, hearing his long-time business rival's voice. "Ah, Yai. And how may I help you today?"

Yai soundedabout to speak, when another voice cuther off. "Chaud, let usup. We need to talk to you."

The voice of his other rival, Chaud mused, was almost more welcome than Yai Ayaono's. "Fine, Lan. But make sure to wipe your feet on the carpet."

There was a definate snort. "Which part of which one?"

Chaud shrugged, though the other's couldn't see it. "Which ever you think is least expensive."

There was grumbling on the other end before it wentdead, and Chaud nodded to Protoman. "Let them in."

A rumbling coming from floors below them signalled the opening of the gate, and Chaudhooked up his PET to the building's main monitoring system. "I'm sure that Yai knows where my office is. Come on up if you wish."

Protoman seemed emotionless, staring at a window inthe PET, before turning to his Op. "Sir, maybe you should powerdown that monitor over there."

Chaud blinked and looked at the screen in question, before nodding and hitting a button that made part of the wall slide closed over the bank of monitors, each showing both statistics, and different clues to a mystery that had been bugging Chaud since the first N1 GrandPrix.

The elevator doors dinged open, admitting a rather... large group of people into the room.

_'Maybe I should give whoever makes Yai's limos a call- if they can fit that many people into one car, I wonder what they could do for accessories...'_ Was his amused thoughts as a small smile tugged on his lips and he gestured them to different seats around the room.

Ms. Mari sat on the couch, accompanied by Higsby, Miyu, Sal, and Haruka. Yuucihiro and Yai sat on chairs all their own, while Tori and Dex chose spots on another by the back wall.

Lan remained standinging, slightly supported by Mayl. Chaud couldn't help but notice the smallest bead of perspiration trickle the other Op's face, an almost undistinguishable pain showing on his face. Mayl's support went unnoticed, though her closeness to him did not.

"Hey, Mayl! There's room on the couch over here! Come and sit!" Dex called out, watching the young red-head over his shoulder.

She shook her head, but refused to say more. Chaud belatedly noticed a strange, almost guilty on Higsby's face, and began to wonder just what the chip otaku had done. But, before he could say more, Yai's eyes drew his own, and he held his tounge, letting the young woman speak.

"Chaud, since you've become the little 'leader' of this opperation, what do we do now?"

The question was straightforward, and yet he couldn't seem to come up with any kind of answer. He paused then, thinking, before pulling his chair from behind his desk and made to sit down on it- until a beeping from the PET caused him to stop and look at the small, red device. "What is it, Protoman?"

The red raider paused for a moment, as though gauging whether or not to speak with so many others in the room, making Chaud think it was company-related, when he finally ventured an explanation: "It's an email from Tialsia."

There was a tense silence in the room as Chaud quickly opened another bank of monitors on a side of the room that everyone could see from their positions, sitting or standing. The sixteen screens had been fused together seemlessly to form either one giant monitor, or four seperate monitors, or sixteen monitors... or any combinations of sixteen squares one could make.

Regardless of the combinations he could have used, Chaud chose to use the one full monitor, making the type bg enough for all to see.

_Chaud and Protoman,_

_I hope you got the last email? I hope that you've stopped poking your noses where they don't belong- they might get stuck there, and we wouldn't want that now, would we? Well, you wouldn't- not too sure about my own opinion..._

_Thank you for the slightly more comprehensible collection of information- the time it took to sort was cut in half. Now if we could just keep shrinking that time, wouldn't everything be so much better and- dare I say it to the VP of such a large company- economic?_

_However, I've already gotten one report today- that's what I get from stretching my legs, I guess- and I trust that you won't repeat any of this information:_

_1. Megaman reappeared sometime this morning (why must people be so... vague?)  
2. He spent most of the time in the Hall staring idly into space and playing with a weird-looking datapacket.  
3. He just went for a walk with a UFO.  
4. Explosions and sightings of Undernet Navis have dramatically increased in just the last two hours- up nearly 500._

_And, for anyone else who ends up reading this, MOVE YOUR BUTS! Information from Yggdrasil is severly lacking due to a number of reasons, the two top ones being that I have extremely limited access to the system, which will soon be rectified when Fæ-chan comes back- then we can have just limited access. The other reason is that Yggdrasil keeps the Chronicles- records of the past. The Hall is where the current information pretaining to the Cyber Matrix is kept- if you can't find anything there, maybe history might help, or whatever information one of Operators can dig up when they're not monitoring Gunir- which, mind you, isn't that often at all._

_And, Chaud? That 'move your buts' thing means you, too._

_Baka._

_Ja matta minna-san... and remember, the longer someone is 'missing', the more critical the situation gets. And, frankly, it's critical enough right now. Now... MOVE IT!_

_Tialsia.EXE_

Silence reigned over the room, before Ms. Mari, hesitantly, asked, "Pardon me, but... who is Tialsia and Yggdrasil?"

The silence turned to sweatdrops, Yai finally ventured forth, "she's a Net Navi who seems to know everything that goes on in the Cyber Matrix. She's sorting and making sense of the random bits of information we collect."

"As well as collecting herself- which she doesn't seem to be doing." Dex interjected, glaring at the message as though daring it to say something in defense.

Yuuicchiro frowned then, eyes sweeping over the message. "Apparently Yggdrasil isn't the all-powerful group of people we thought it was."

Haruka sighed, giving her husband a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, dear. I'm sure that this will all work out."

Higsby smiled at Ms. Mari. "Don't worry! Me and Numberman will have everything back to normal soon!"

"Which is more than you did for poor Lan." Sal scolded the otaku, frowning as she looked at the two by the doors. Quickly, everyone's attention was transfered to them, and, realizing this, Lan tried to stand more straighter. However, this only seemed to make the pain worse and he slumped, Mayl hurrying to take some of his weight, a small groan escaping from his parched lips.

Miyu was over to him first, Haruka and Yuuichiro right behind the Seer. Pressing her fingers to his forehead, she pressed his head back against the wall, eyes intently watching his breathing patterns before backing away and turning to his parents. "Has Lan ever been this way before? Is there a history of illness relating to him, or any in your family?"

Both Haruka and Yuuichiro looked surprised about the question, before Haruka managed to get out, "Why?"

Sal had joined them, gently dragging Lan over to the couch where Ms. Mari was sitting, the young teacher quickly standing up to make room for them, Mayl taking her now-accustomed place by the Op's head, hand pressed against his forehead. "Because he seems to be really sick- any kind of illness, even if it hasn't surfaced in your family for a while, may be the cause of it." The flower woman explained, fishing out some specially prepared spices and herbs from the pouch around her waist.

Mayl looked up worriedly as Sal gently removed her hand from his forehead, and instead led her over to a small table, all the while the red head looking over her should worriedly at the young man on the couch. Sal tsked, and turned to Chaud. "Is there a pot, a stove or something to boil the water with around here?"

Chaud snorted, and walked through a wall that was previously though solid- a holigram to keep others out. Returning moments later with a small, portable heater and pot, the young VP quickly set them up on the table, looking at his rival as he did so. "What do you think it is, Miyu? Sal?"

The two Officals shared a look, before Sal sighed, putting Mayl warming the liquid. "We're not sure. As of right now, it could be anything- but more than likely some kind of disease that is either new, or is in his genes."

Tori nodded his head. "So that's why you were asking about that before."

Miyu nodded, sitting down beside Lan, looking at him worriedly as Haruka and Yuuichiro stood around, the rest keeping their distance.

Lan managed a small smile. "I'm... fine..."

Dex snorted. "No, you're not, so stop trying to be hero."

Lan frowned, before he let his eyes closed a bit- snapping them open when Miyu pinched him. "Ow... Miyu... what?"

She frowned as Sal quickly pulled Mayl's hand back from the now almost-boiling pot of water. "No sleeping, Hikari. Stay awake- we don't know what this is."

From their distances, Lan and Mayl were able to share a small look, before Miyu started talking again and Mayl had to turn back to the water, now almost boiling over the sides of the pot. Turning it off quickly, she poured some into a cup and handed it Sal- but the older woman held up her hands, and instead offered the small pouch of herbs to Mayl.

Looking down, Mayl examined the packet, taking it carefully in her hands and looking at Sal in surprise. "Wha-"

Sal winked. "You'd know better than me, having someone like Roll as Navi."

Mayl looked on after the flower woman as she joined Miyu, Haruka and Ms. Mari in their fretting about Lan, and pondering what it could be. Mayl's was able to catch Yuuichiro's eye, and even then for the briefest of moments- but in that small amount of time, it was obvious that he knew something, something he wasn't telling them.

Mayl frowned, turning back to the tea. She pinched out a small bit of herbs, surprised to see such a combination in the packet, before pouring a bit more out into her hand, sorting through them and picking out certain ones which were dropped into the tea. Satisfied with the result, she turned around and brought it over to the couch, Haruka smiling graciously down on the younger woman, respect and pride in her eyes.

"Thank you, Mayl. But, maybe you should give it to him."

Mayl started, almost dropping the cup, before moving closer to the couch, while Dex growled out, "She doesn't need to feed him!"

He was silenced with glares and _looks_ from the others in the room.

While Haruka helped Lan sit up, Mayl waited patiently on her knees by his head, cup held gently in her hands. When he looked relaxed, she lifted the cup to his lips, tilting it slowly and letting the hot liquid scald his tounge and slide down his throat, waiting until he winced to pull the cup away.

Sighing contentedly, he leaned back against the couch, swinging his legs over the side for to make room for people to sit. Haruka took the seat eagerly, Yuuichiro choosing to lean against the side of the couch, Mayl remaining on the floor by Lan's head, body turned towards him, head to everyone else. Miyu and Sal took that last bit of room, while Higsby and Ms. Mari chose the wall and aplush chairrespectively.

Chaud frowned at the chip otaku, turning to Ms. Mari. "I'm not entirely sure who you are, Ms."

She grinned up at him in that evil, teacherly way. "My name is Ms. Mari, Mr. Blaze. I am Lan, Mayl, Dex and Yai's teacher at school."

Chaud found himself fighting to not sweatdrop and laugh nervously at the look on her face, and instead cocked his head towards the nerd who was leaning against his wall. "What happened between Lan and this guy?"

Ms. Mari frowned. "I'm really not sure. I was just walking along when I heard Mr. Higsby and Mayl talking, and I went over to see what was going on. When I got there, Lan was leaning against Mayl, and Higsby was busy apologizing. I offered to help them, and we walked to Yai's house. However, I'm not even sure why we're here, nor why they were going to Ms. Ayano's home in the first place."

Yai had a superior smirk on her face as Chaud turned to her. "Since I'm the one with all the best technology- who is willing to lend it to friends if they need it-" she glanced meaningfully at Chaud as she said this, "-I offered for everyone to come to my place to continue the search. This way the Ops can talk straight to each other, and not worry about e-mail or video mail."

Chaud nodded his head in approval, before he frowned. "And what prompted this sudden excursion here?"

Yai bit her lip, refusing to say anything. It was Yuuichiro who spoke up. "Because we weren't sure where else to go. You seem to be the center of information- or at least someone who's close to it- and we were at a loss as to what to do."

Chaud frowned. "Well then, this has just been a waste of time. I know nothing more than the rest of you- Tialsia has been kindly witholding information until she 'can put it together into something that resembles a sentence', quote on quote."

Lan frowned at Chaud from his spot on the couch- which was especially hard, all things considered. "So you're telling me that we know nothing?"

Chaud frowned right back at him. "Nothing more, nothing less. At least we know something."

All eyes turned to him. "What?" Was a unanimous question, and Chaud groaned, wondering how people so close to the center of this little opperation couldn't have heard.

"There's been a rumour that the Undernet is completely decimated- there's nothing what-so-ever left, except for one apparentl BIG structure."

Lan sighed. "I will bet anyone in here that that structure is the new 'secret base' of either an old enemy or a new enemy."

Tori sighed as well. "Either way an enemy."

Dex growled. "Well if they're they ones who have taken Roll, I'm gonna take 'em down!"

Mayl cocked an eye brow. "And if they're not?"

Dex glared at her, realized who it was, and instead smiled gently. "Then I'll still take 'em down! They're the enemy!"

Ms. Mari frowned. "Dex, you don't know that for sure."

Lan sweatdropped. "Yeah, come on dude, it was just a suggestion!"

Dex glared at Lan, embarassed by his sudden outburst. "I'm gonna give you a suggestion: shut up!" The larger boy picked up a pillow and lobbed it in Lan's direction, barely missing Mayl's head and the now half-filled cup of tea. It did, however, hit Lan squarely on the chest, right about where his heart would be.

His eyes widened and he gasped, sitting up suddenly and clutching his vest where his heart would be.

Mayl had the tea in Haruka's hands and was holding onto the Op's shoulders strongly, sitting down beside him and watching his face intently. Haruka wrapped her arms around Lan comfortingly, looking between Lan and Mayl, as did Yuuichiro. Dex was motionless, surprise and fear written on his face.

Panting, Lan clawed at the area around his heart, as though trying to get at it, to the organ out. All he did was have Miyu and Sal's hands clasp over his own, holding them down. He cried out in pain, sweat trickling down his face. Higsby looked on in horror, clearly convinced this was fault, while Ms. Mari looked in wonder and fear. Tori, Yai and Chaud watched frightened, wondering what had gotten into their comrad.

Mayl gripped his shoulder's tightly, digging her nails through the thick vest and thin white long-sleeved shirt, before removing one hand and placing over his heart, putting pressure on the area. Lan stopped breathing so heavily, and instead leaned into the hand and slightly onto Mayl, his expression changing from one of pain to one of slightly more relaxed pain.

Chaud frowned even more, turning on Higsby. "Alright, what did you do?"

The otaku gasped in surprised, spinning around to face the VP. "Me? Oh, I didn't do anything..."

Glares from all over the room were centered on him, and he sighed. "Alright, alright. I don't really know what this has to do with it, but-"

"Any information would help." Haruka pleaded, eyes nearly filled with tears.

Higsby gulped, looking down. "Alright. I was just walking along, minding my own business, my briefcase under one arm- ("Isn't it always?" Dex asked in hushed tones to Tori, who responded with a whap over the head and a "Quiet!") -when I heard something behind me. When I turned around, I saw a blur moving straight towards me, when we both crashed. My briefcase went into the blur- which turned out to be Lan's-chest, before dropping to the ground, as did Lan. Then Mayl came up on her scooter and was right at his side in an instant, asking him if he was okay and what happened- didn't even bother to help me pick up my chips."

At this another round of glares were sent his way, and he continued without his usual rant. "Thing is, when I finished picking up all my chips, I looked over at Lan- and he was in really bad shape. I didn't think that briefcases could hurt so much. So when we stood upI asked Mayl if there had already been a problem, and then Ms. Mari walked over to see what had happened."

All eyes now focused on Mayl, who had been trying to get Lan to relax again, shooting furitive glares at Dex occasionally. She blinked, feeling the other's staring at her, and she looked up. "What?"

Haruka gently squeezing Mayl's hand that was resting now on Lan's back, no one other than Yuuichiro, Sal and Miyu seeing the small gesture. "Please, Mayl? What has been going on these last few days?"

Mayl sighed, giving into the silent pleading that was evident in the female Hikari's voice. "I... well... since yesterday... afternoon, I guess, every once in a while-"

"Mayl..." Lan muttered, leaning more on the young girl. She stopped speaking, a peaceful look coming over her face as she watched as he fell into a slumber, now-empty tea cup held in his hands.

Smiling gently, she let him lean completely onto her, using the back and arm rest of the couch to gain some support. "Lan's been... getting weaker. Collapsing at the weirdest times, having trouble breathing, pains in his heart so strong he wants to tear it out... it originally scared me. But he gets better everytime after just a bit of rest, and goes around like nothing happened. Then if something or someone hits him anywhere near his heart or lungs he goes back to how he was just now. Then the cycle repeats itself."

Absent mindedly stroaking his hair as he slept, the tenderness she showed towards him was displayed for all to see, and it touched all the female's hearts, while the males looked on in silent wonder, silent happiness, or silent fury.

Ms. Mari sighed happily. "If only I had someone who could depend on me like that!"

Higsby looked about to say something when Dex stood up, anger in his eyes. But the anger immediately disapeared when Protoman coughed, looking at the scene from his PET. Questioningly, Chaud walked over to the red device. "What is it?"

"Megaman just came back into the Hall- and he doesn't look too happy, whatever that other Navi said to him." The raider replied, eyes and emotions hidden behind the black visor over his face.

Chaud sighed, turning back to the group in the room. "Alright, Megaman apparently isn't too- and isn't going to be too happy about what happened to Lan, either."

"No, ya think?"

Heads swivelled to the bank of monitors that still had Tialsia' email displayed- only now the email took up twelve of the sixteen screens, the other four showing images of the Hall, the BlazeQuest network, outside, and Megaman's face- which was currently contorted into a frown.

"Megaman..." Chaud began, but was cut off by the blue bomber himself.

"Was it..." He said slowly, remembering what Mayl and Lan had told him about eariler that day.

Mayl nodded, worry etched on her face as she watched the bomber's frown deepen.

"If I had been there..."

Higsby looked up. "If you had been there? No disrespect, but what could you do? You're only a navi."

Megaman looked shocked for a moment, as though getting a realtiy check, before he lowered his gaze, frown back on his face and deeper than ever. "Only a navi..."

Looking up, he turned to Chaud. "I don't suppose you could jack me out?"

Chaud nodded, reaching over to Mayl who plucked the PET from it's case and handed it over to the VP. Jacking the device in, everyone watched as the blue navi disappeared from the screen in a shower of pixels, leaving an empty blue space as the only thing remaining on that one monitor.

Glancing back at everyone, Chaud sighed. "I could probably find some place to lay Lan down- if you really need it-" Cut off by Haruka's fervent nodding, his gaze rested on Yai. Getting the message, the young heiress stood up, walking towards the elevator.

"Alright, everyone. As it seems that we've got everything we can out of Chaud, shall we head back?"

There was some grumbling, but everyone with the exception to the Hikaris and Mayl stood up and walked over to the door, all of them saying their good-byes to those remaining behind.

Once the elevator doors had shut, Chaud turned to Protoman.

"Is there-"

"There are eight empty rooms twenty floors up where Lan could lay down. How long they will still empty, however, is another story."

Chaud turned back to the small group left in the room. "Alright. There's a few rooms upstairs, or we could just lay him here, or there's my Private Office, through the holo-wall."

Opting for both privacy and least amount of movement, five minutes later found Lan sleeping on a very nicely upholstered couch in Chaud's Private Office, completed with tables scattered with papers and a small cupboard filled with food and drinks. "Don't let Lan see that cupboard, though." Chaud warned them, walking out of the room.

Mayl, impatient after sitting still for nearly half an hour in the oppressing silence, stood slowly, stretching her muscles, from her chair across from Lan, Haruka having taken the red head's normal position and Yuuichiro sitting at the other end of the couch. Turning to the cupboard, she spoted a small box and let a smile creep onto her face.

"Does anyone want tea?" Mayl asked kindly, grabbing a tea bag from the cupboard.

Haruka smiled at her gently. "That would be wonderful, Mayl."

Looking around for the heater and pot, Mayl sighed, realizing where they were. Throwing the bags of tea onto the table, she slowly walked through the 'door' into the front office through the holo-wall. Looking around, she expected to at least hear Chaud and/or Protoman voices asking her what she was doing.

However, the room was deserted, and Mayl easily spied the heater and tea pot on the small wooden table. She had gathered them in her arms in no time, shifting them around so that she didn't drop them, when her leg bumped the table and something fell to the floor.

Looking at it, she shifted the heater and pot again, so that they were both in one arm, and bent down to grab the small packet. The moment her fingers touched it, Mayl realized that it was Sal's herb packet- the flower woman must have forgotten it when she left. Then Mayl sighed, realizing that it was because she hadn't given it back to Sal that it was still there. But now, at least, she was able to get a good look at it.

It was small, made of tanned deer-hide, two inches wide by three inches long. A tanned leather strap ran through pin-sized holes in the hide, showing how the packet was held together and tied off when not in use.

Peering at it closer, Mayl slowly remembered what the strange mix of herbs inside did for Lan- both before and after Dex attacked him with the pillow.

She stared at it for a moment longer before pocketing it.

_'Just in case.'_

**

* * *

**

_**Notes**_

Can I just say that can be a real pain sometimes? You can be logged in for 72 hours- max- and then, when that time is up, they log you out. Now, my problem with THAT is that I had this whole chapter written, AN, Song and all, 45 minutes worth of work (I hadn't even done the editing yet) and then- poof!- I'm logged out. FOURTY FIVE MINUTES OF WORK DOWN THE DRAIN! Gah! And I have to type it all up after I upload the document, because then I can work on it at school, too.

I also originally had this cute little scene with Sal and Miyu at the end- but, I decided that their little conversation will be the beginning to next chappie, because a)I want to get this up, b) this is already double the length of my last chapter, and c) I completely forgot what I wrote.

So, no biggie.

But aren't you PROUD of me? After not being here for- well, a LONG time, I finally update! So, my new, REVISED, schedule (order of when I update stories, and possible finish):

1. Running  
2. Return  
3. Secrets  
4. Fate  
5. Anything else

But I think I'm just gonna skip 4 and 5 and get straight back to 1, as I haven't updated Running in a while, either. And I already have two other YGO thingies half-done, and the now-second-scene of the next chap. of this, so I want to do _something_ on that story.

And I just figured out you can use ctrl and b, i or u to bold, slant (italisize is too hard to spell) or underline your words. Wowow... we are special.

**AND "WOWOW" IS OUR WORD! NOT YOURS! OURS!**

_**Song**_

Considering I was listening to it non-stop when I wrote this, Cruel Angel Thesis. Well, in all honesty, I put in my Enya: Sheppard Moons CD for a round, but other than that, it was the absolutely wonderful opening for Neon Genesis Evangelion (let me count the ways in which I LOVE that thing). But I cried... poor Shinji... funny Auska and Rei...

**_Quote_**

Bakura, now well into the next room, grinned as he heard Ryou move towards the closet door.

"BAKURA! WHAT DID YOU **DO**? EVERYTHING'S **LEATHERIZED**!"

'Wait for it…." Bakura told himself quietly.

"…Is that SPANDEX?"

'Damn straight.'

_From Chapter 1 of JewelValentine's "A Crossing of the Ways"._


End file.
